Neon Genesis Evangelion Strange New Worlds
by jcmoorehead
Summary: Post 3I and only a selection of surivors emerge from the horror, meanwhile light years away another group of survivors leave their own obliterated home world. The two groups are brought together, mere coincidence or are there greater forces at work? SxA,
1. Aftermath

_A/N: Ok so I've decided to rewrite Star Force Evangelion, I read back over it and wasn't happy with how I had built up the new characters and also I thought the beginning could do with a lot more work on it so here is the first chapter of the rewrite, it'll be following the same basic story but will have some major differences in the chapters, it'll also be renamed to Neon Genesis Evangelion: Strange New Worlds. I hope you like this new version. There will be some inaccuracies it's based after EoE/EoTV but the Eva Units will still exist, its based on a different style of ending in which the events of EoE did happen but happened slightly differently._

_Anyway I hope you enjoy this new version, please if you have the time leave a review, I'd love to know your thoughts on it._

_**One Week Ago – ASPE Starbase**_

"April 14th, 2015, this will be the last audio log I'll make whilst we're still within the ASPE orbital station, the ship has now been completed and the crew has been chosen. I've handpicked my main bridge staff. My security officer is a man called Mike Sharpe, he's got a good record at the Academy and was recommended to me by the ASPE higher ups. The ships pilot is a woman named Joanne Harrison. She's still young and inexperienced but from what I've seen she is more then capable of piloting a ship such as this. The third and final person I have chosen is a young medic named Kira Stewart, she'll be among the youngest of the overall crew but her record at the academy is second to none, she is said to be one of the best medics currently serving in ASPE.

_The other three are currently on board and are looking around their respective areas, getting a feel for the ship. ASPE are sending the rest of the crew within the next couple of days and in five days time, after two long years or preparation, the ship will finally be ready to launch."_

The captain smiled as he said those final words, two long years he had been waiting for this moment, he had received the news that he would be the first starship captain at ASPE, it was his proudest moment. Many people within the community had made a big deal of the fact that he was chosen, most were supportive, and after all it was a huge achievement for their civilization. However there were those who had criticized ASPE's choice for a captain, most stating that the chosen candidate was in fact far too young to be captaining a vessel such as this. John had no time for these people, no matter what age the captain was to be they would all end up the same, the only experience potential captains had were simulators which were nothing better then video games, it just turned out that he was better qualified then the older candidates that's all.

He could understand their concern for the ship, after all it wasn't everyday a starship of this quality was made, the only starships before this were the Colony ships sent back and forth between the Alpha 01 colonies in the Hideaki star system. The ship featured an upgraded Light Drive, of course the colony ships also featured a Light Drive but the one on this ship was different. This was capable of providing speeds going up to five times the speed of light, it was also more efficient and is said to provide a smoother flight.

The ship itself could hold around fifty people, it was a ship made for exploration, where as those that came before it were made for transport, this one had been made with long term exploration in mind. It featured three huge cargo bays, each one providing docking features for interaction with space stations and other ships. It came equipped with storage facilities for food, using special ASPE technology it was possible to keep any type of food fresh for months or years. Scattered throughout the ships decks were the living quarters, a dining area, engineering section, medical bay and also a shuttle bay currently housing one shuttle.

The command center of the ship was situated directly at the front of the ship, it housed a giant view-screen that could be turned off at will and also made to display star charts or otherwise. At the front of the bridge was where the pilot sat, situated behind the pilot's seat was the captain's chair. To the left of the captains chair was the Security/Tactical Center and to the Right of the captains chair was the Engineering Panel for remote access to the engineering section. Situated behind the Captain's chair were several more consoles set aside for other ship functions.

John looked around his quarters, they weren't anything spectacular-just the basics. A main room with a bathroom located at the far end, a bed in the corner, two windows looking outside, a desk set up with a computer built into it, wardrobes next to one of the walls and basic kitchen facilities in another corner.

He looked back down to the computer screen and finished entering his personal log. He sat back in his seat and looked around again before getting up and walking out of his quarters to meet the new crew.

**_Five Days Ago– ASPE Starbase_**

"Commander, speak to me what's happening up there?"

John awaited the reply from the other end of the communicator; he had been awoken just over fifteen minutes ago by the sound of explosions and the ship going to Red Alert. After a few seconds the voice of Mike Sharpe came back over the handheld device.

"We don't know captain, the ship has been sealed off from the Star base, no one can enter or leave the ship. Communication has been cut off between the two as well."

"How many are of the crew made it on board."

"Only me, Lieutenant Harrison and Ensign Stewart are on board, ASPE weren't going to start transferring the rest of the crew across until tomorrow."

_Damnit, _John thought to himself as he thought over what Mike had just told him.

"Commander get both the Lieutenant and Ensign Stewart on the bridge, I'm on my way there now."

"Yes captain."

A shockwave hit the ship causing John to slam into the wall, he stumbled away trying to regain his balance as he continued making his way towards the end of the corridor towards the ships lift system. The ship shook again as another explosion could be heard in the Star base. The lighting had been dimmed to reflect the red alert status and the standard ship lighting now flashed a dangerous red.

John made it to the end of the corridor and stepped into the lift, ready to go up to the bridge. Another shockwave rocked the ship as the lift stopped allowing the captain access to the bridge.

"Commander put the view-screen on I want to see what's happening out there."

"Yes Captain."

The captain made his way around to the Captains chair and sat down just as the view-screen whirred to life. Fear gripped him as he saw what was in front of him. The Star base was literally being torn apart around them, in front of them was the star-base exit doors, these however were now half damaged and the crew of the Ship could now see through them into the empty void of space.

This however was not what had frightened the captain, through the gaps in the exit something could be seen sending some sort of energy beam at the station, the object appeared to be rectangular in shape. An orange mist was being sprayed out of it.

Another explosion rocked the ship sending all the crew on the ship flying forward. The captain got to his feet,

"Lieutenant Harrison how are you for piloting at this time?"

The Lieutenant got up, and looked back her Captain, "I still haven't gone over everything there is on the ship"

"Doesn't matter, do you think you can get us out of here?"

She looked back and panicked, "I guess so, but there isn't a clear route out the star base exit is still blocking out way."

John took this on board, he now had a decision too make: stay within the star base and wait to be crushed, or make their own path out and try to survive. He gave the survival method a forty percent chance of success. He looked over towards his security officer.

"In that case, we'll have to make our own way out, Commander, do we have weapons systems?"

"They're only basic at that, we'll get one chance to do something then we'll have to repair them, they were scheduled for tomorrow."

_God damnit, why was everything scheduled for tomorrow? _John asked himself, another shockwave hit the star base, this time sending a chunk of the star base flying towards the ship, just narrowly missing.

"Ok here is what I want you to do, Commander we need an exit out of this place, charge up weapons and aim it at what's remaining of that launch bay doors. Lieutenant, plot a course out of here, as soon as you can engage the light drive and get us as far away from here as you can."

He didn't like giving the order but he didn't want to die here, he looked back to his small crew each one staring at him intently, their faces each asking the same question.

"I don't like it anymore then you do, but I'd much rather take our chances than just be crushed here."

Joanne and Mike both looked at each other, Mike was the first to sit at his console, "I've locked in the target, and I'd recommend we get a bit closer before firing though, we need split second timing to get this right."

Joanne then followed suit and sat at her console, "Course has been set, I'll move us forward then Mike can fire, once we're free of the star base I'll engage the light drive, we will only have a limited time using it then it'll burn out, they were set to finish the tests…"

"..tomorrow, yes I guessed that, ok on my order move us forward."

Kira sat down in one of the unoccupied seats within the bridge, she was too scared to say anything or to object, this wasn't what she had in mind when she joined up for this mission and it wasn't an ideal way to start either. She looked over towards the captain, he had a stern face, focused on what was in front of him, but she could still see the raw fear in his eyes.

"Begin"

Another shockwave hit as the ship began to move, the sound of the ships engines and weapons systems coming to life whirred around the bridge as the ship tore out of its docking clamps and moved towards the launch doors.

The ship made its way towards the doors and just as they were about to hit, a blast from the ships phasers tore through what was remaining as the ship broke free of the star base. The ship continued moving until it was a fair distance from the Star base, just as it gained distance a huge explosion rocked it, behind it the star base had finally been destroyed along with the planet it was orbiting.

The bridge of the ship was silent as they witnessed this, they all sat in a stunned silence as they watched their world be destroyed by this unknown entity that had seemingly came out of nowhere tore throw the remains of the star base and the planet.

"Lieutenant…. Engage the light drive."

With those words the Lieutenant hit the final few buttons to engage the ships light drive, the scene faded around them as they were sucked into the light funnel, all of them sat in a saddened silence.

_**Two Days Ago – The remains of Tokyo-3**_

Shinji Ikari woke suddenly, he quickly sat up gasping for air. Finally catching his breath he kept his head down, not wanting to look up for fear of what he might see. He sat there for a while, silent, he could feel something in his hand. He brought his hand up and looked to see what was there. He slowly opened his hand revealing the necklace Misato had gave him before all this had started, he tried to stop himself from crying as he clutched the necklace tightly in his hand.

Finally he looked up to see what had happened, he felt that whatever had happened was his fault, after all it was he that had chosen to allow people to return to their previous form, therefore it was he that was blame for this, or so he thought. He stood up and looked out towards the horizon.

The sight was not pretty, the sea had turned a vile blood red, the sky was a vicious black and dotted around land were the remains of the Eva series, still impaled on their mock Lance Of Longinus'.

A million and one thoughts raced through his head, was he the only one still there? Was it only this area that was like this? What had happened to the others? Had he made the right decision?

He looked back to the necklace he had in his hand and a sole tear fell down his cheek, he looked up again towards the horizon and looked out. Something out there caught his eye as he turned to look again. There was nothing there, but for one short moment he swore he could have seen the figure or Rei Ayanami standing out there among the ocean of LCL. He fell back to his knees and curled up, suddenly feeling very alone.

_A/N: Ok so that's the new chapter one complete, its more of a prologue then anything but it gives more insight into the crew of the ship and also expands on who they are and gives a bit more of the character information that was lacking in the old version. The next chapter will bring more of the Evangelion characters into it, I just wanted to use this one to show Shinji returning to reality after Instrumentality. Next one will see Asuka returning._

_Special thanks go out to my pre reader Ste Percival, for taking the time to look through this and assist in fixing any mistakes._


	2. Recovery

_A/N: Ok so chapter 1 has been complete, I hope anyone who has read it enjoyed it. Not much to say here, straight onto Chapter 2._

_**Two Day's ago – ASPE B Series Starship**_

"_Audio Log for Captain John Frakes of the yet unnamed ASPE B Series Starship. We have been floating around in space for three days now. There have been no signs of the entity that attacked our home world pursuing us. However we are still remaining ever vigilant in the event that we should be attacked._

_As of this moment there are only four of us on board the ship. It is our intention to head to the Alpha 01 colonies as soon as possible, that is if the colonies still exist. I am not sure how the rest of the crew are coping with the events of the past few days, with this being a fairly young crew I understand it must be very hard on them. Hopefully we will all be able to pull through this._

_Before we reach the colonies there is something that I want to examine. When the ships sensors were brought back online we picked up a large scale explosion in a star system not too far from here. It is our belief that the explosion within this Star System has something to do with what attacked our home. We may just be chasing Ghosts, but I have a feeling we will find something within this system."_

The captain leaned back in his seat and ended the log recording. This was not how he had imagined his first command would go. The sheer shock of seeing his home blown up in front of him by some unknown enemy for no reason at all was something he could not get over. He had felt many emotions over the past few days: fear, sadness, and above all anger. Anger at those that had taken away his home. His training had taught him to put responsibility for his crew above all but he still had a lingering feeling he could have done more. In the end he had to put those emotions aside and concentrate on doing what he could to get the ship back up and running and to assist his crew, he was now not only responsible for the starship but also for the lives of his crew and even though it was not a huge crew it still weighed heavily on his shoulders.

He tapped a few buttons on the console in front of him before eventually picking up and speaking into a communications device.

"Commander, how long until we will arrive at the destination?"

"_Joanne is still working on getting the light drive back up to full efficiency, but she estimates at around two days at the most."_

"Good to hear it, keep me informed of any developments, I'll be in the shuttle-bay working on repairs to the shuttlecraft.

_**Two Day's ago –Remains of Tokyo-3**_

…_I don't want to die…._

……_Please don't let me die mama….  
………Please…. I don't want to die!...  
…I DON'T WANT TO DIE!..._

The red haired girl was suddenly jolted awake from her slumber. She tried to stand but immediately collapsed, she felt as if she had not moved for days, every time she moved one of her limbs intense pain shot through her as if she had been torn apart and pieced back together. She was finally able to gather the strength to be able to sit up. Once she had sat up she took a look at what was around her.

She suddenly felt very sick and afraid at what she saw, the world she had once known had turned. What was once a beautiful, albeit flawed, world had transformed into something from a nightmare. The sea had turned a vile blood red, the sky was deathly black and behind her were the ruins of a fallen city, the city she had called home for the past months, the city of Tokyo-3.

As she glanced at the ruins she suddenly felt extremely alone, she longed to see anyone she knew again, no matter who it was. She stood up at looked out trying to remember what had happened previous to her arriving here, it had all happened to quickly, her sync ratio dropping to zero, her inability to pilot her Eva, her suicide attempt and then her last battle against the Eva series. She looked out towards the sea and could see in the distance one of the fallen Eva series impaled on one of its weapons. Just what had happened since that battle? She felt sick as she looked at the grotesque image in front of her; this was the same machine that had torn her and her Eva apart limb from limb.

How many more people were there on Earth, was she the only one? What had happened to Misato and Shinji? Asuka even found herself wondering what had happened to Rei. She found herself expressing even more concern for Shinji. She tried to put the thought out of her mind but it kept returning to her, where was he during the fight against the Eva series and where was he now? Had he simply not returned or was he somewhere else on this coastline of hell, wondering the exact same as her?

**_Two Day's ago – Remains of NERV HQ_**

NERV HQ had all but been destroyed during the JSSDF attacks and then even further during the events of third impact itself, all that remained of the structure now a few corridors and parts of the main command section. Most of the corridors were now devoid of life save for the occasional puddle of LCL.

"_So these are the remains of humanity, a few puddles of LCL and a handful of survivors"_

These are the thoughts that echoed through Misato Katsuragi's mind as she wandered the ruins of NERV HQ. The footsteps echoed through the darkened hallways as she gripped her gun tightly. She knew there would be no-one else in her old HQ save for, her but she wouldn't be taking any risks. She would not die again not until she thanked Shinji for aborting third impact and allowing humanity to live on. She could have chosen not to come back and stay within her own custom dream world, to live on as she wished free of any fear or pain, but that would be going against what she had told Shinji. It would be running away.

Misato immediately wondered where Shinji and Asuka were, she knew Shinji would have returned somewhere after all it had to have been him who aborted third impact. As for Asuka she had no idea what would have happened to her, the last she remembered was Asuka was fighting and winning in the battle against the Eva series.

"_They both must have stopped third impact, finally they managed to get along and do something"_

Misato smiled at the thought of the two pilots finally working together in a friendly manner, she was blissfully unaware at what had really happened. Of course if she had known what had truly happened she would not be smiling. How could she if she knew of how Asuka was torn apart inside her Eva and how Shinji was unable to do anything to help as he just sat there listening to Asuka's screams as she was torn apart piece by piece.

She wondered just what would happen now, it was obvious they wouldn't be able to live within Tokyo-3 anymore. They would have to go somewhere else, possibly leave the country. That would depend, of course, on who else returns. All she wanted though was for the three of them to be together again, she wanted to see both Asuka and Shinji be happy for once, after all she knew that whilst both of the children might have totally contrasting personalities they were both the same inside, they were both harboring tragic pasts and were both lacking a proper upbringing. Maybe the two of them would get together now that all of this was over.

"_Yeah right, maybe that's a bit too far fetched"_

She chuckled at the thought of Shinji and Asuka going out together, realizing that it wasn't as far fetched as she thought, she did of course know about the time that Shinji had tried to kiss Asuka whilst in her sleep, she could also remember Asuka screaming something about kissing Shinji once whilst Misato was in one of her drunken moods.

"_They would make a cute couple though"_

She continued walking though a few more corridors until coming to a brighter area, as she stepped out of the remains she found herself confronted with a frightening image. The geofront had completely changed and was now more of a huge valley. The sky looked to be in a permanent state of night and as she looked up towards the moon she could see what looked for be a faint red mark across the face of it. The lake that had once sat outside NERV HQ was now blood red and rising out of the center of it was one of the impaled Eva series, she shuddered as she looked back at this image in front of her.

_**Two Day's ago – Sea of LCL**_

_Take me too my Yui…_

These were the last words Rei Ayanami could remember hearing as she floated through the endless sea of LCL. Everything else after that moment was a complete blank to her. She tried to remember the person who had spoken those words.

_Commander Ikari_

The name burned through her as she felt an emotion she had not previously felt, hatred. Hatred for the person who had caused this, hatred for the man who had tried to use her as a puppet, hatred for the man who had abandoned his son, hatred for the man who had created her.

_Hatred for the man who had abandoned his son… Pilot Ikari, the third child, what has become of him._

Another emotion ran through Rei at the thought of Shinji, the emotion a sister might feel when concerned for their Sibling, after all, genetically, Rei was very close to Shinji. It was closeness she had never given any thought to until now. She had never truly questioned anything: who she was, why she was here or what her purpose was. It wasn't until the meeting with the final Angel that she truly realized who she was and how she was being used.

A voice echoed in the distance sounding not dissimilar to hers,

_"You can still return if you wish, Rei Ayanami"_

"Who are you?"__

"I am you, and you are me. We are the same."

"You are the reason for this?"

_"We are the reason for this Rei, when you merged with me this is the result"_

"What do you want?"

_"I want nothing; this is about what you want. My purpose here has been completed, what do you want Rei?"_

"I want to return to the others."

_"Then it is done, from this moment on we are no longer one and the same, you no longer have to carry the burden of me, you are now your own person."_

With these final words Rei felt her eyes closing as she fell into a deep sleep.

**Present Day – Unnamed ASPE Starship**

The ship had finally reached its destination after two days of travel. As they approached the planet the first thing the crew noticed were its blood red seas and the strange moon like object orbiting it.

"Commander, what's your analysis of that object orbiting the planet does it pose any threat to us?"

"None that I can see Captain, if there is any threat it is hidden well."

The captain looked straight ahead at the view screen looking at the planet.

_So this is the source of that explosion, but it's still intact._

"Commander, scan the planet again for life signs"

"Yes Captain"

The commander tapped a few buttons on his console until finally turning to the captain with a puzzled look on his face.

"This can't be right, when we done a long range scan of the planet a few days ago we picked up a few billion life signs this was just after the explosion, then after I scanned again we picked up zero life signs. The scan just now has picked up at least seven life signs."

The captain looked back at the commander now equally concerned. He decided he wanted to take a closer look at what was going on down there. He picked up his comms device and tapped the button on it.

"Ensign Stewart, meet me in the Shuttle bay with your medical kit, we're heading down to the planet."

_"Yes captain"_

John put the comms device down and spoke to the two other crew members on the ship.

"Commander, Lieutenant I'm leaving you both in command of the ship, if you do not hear from us within an hour I want to you set a course for the Alpha-01 Colonies and leave us behind. If you run into any trouble I want you to contact us immediately and then head for the colonies as fast as you can. Is that understood?"

Both Joanne and Mike nodded their heads at the Captain. The Captain returned the nod before stepping off of the bridge and making his way to the shuttle bay.


	3. Misatos Discovery

_A/N: Not much to say here, just thanks for the reviews so far and keep them coming. Also something I didn't state but I'd better say it, I do not own the concept of Neon Genesis Evangelion or it's character, I'm pretty sure you all knew that already though. That said, it's straight onto Chapter 3._

**Unnamed ASPE Starship - Medical Bay**

Misato awoke from her slumber to find herself lying on a bed in a place not known to her. The last thing she remembered was collapsing from exhaustion some time ago. She did not know how long ago that was. She was startled by a low beeping noise, she sat up and got off the bed. Looking down she realized she was still wearing the same clothes as she was when she collapsed, she reached in her jacket and felt around for something.

'_Yes, its still there.'_

She pulled out her pistol and clamped her hand around it tightly as she stepped through the curtain in front of her.

'_Where the hell am I?'_

She stepped forward to the center of this room and looked over towards the other beds, she could make out two bodies on either one. Misato strode towards the two people and was relieved as she saw the two people who were occupying the beds.

_'So Asuka and Shinji are safe… but what about…'_

Her attention was then drawn too a low beeping noise being emitted from another object across the room, this one was different, it appeared to be a chamber of sorts. The sides were a grayish plastic whilst the top was completely uncovered. Over the top, a panel of some sort arched across, it was this that seemed to be emitting the noise. Misato nervously grasped her pistol again and slowly made her way over towards the chamber. She peered inside and immediately jumped back.

'_What… what have they done with Rei?'_

She peered back in and sure even Rei was lying there, except she had various cables leading up to her and there was a sort of mask covering the lower part of her face. Misato looked down Rei's body, she had two cables on either side of her chest, another two on her stomach and four further cables split between her legs.

'_What is this place? What the hell is going on here?'_

Misato put her gun back in her jacket and went back over to where Asuka and Shinji were lying, she pulled the covers back on each of them but could not see any cables or anything to suggest they had somehow been touched.

She took another look around the bay knowing that whatever had brought them here could be back any time soon. She decided to find out more and then return for the children, she then stepped over towards the door. She opened it by tapping the panel next to it and exited the room, but not before leaning back in and whispering.

"I'll be back soon."

**Unnamed ASPE Starship – Corridor**

It had been twenty four hours since John and the rest of the crew had found the planet and already they had found a multitude of unanswered questions. The initial scouting for survivors had heralded, as suspected, four survivors, one of which was a young woman. They had found her collapsed outside a desolate building. The other survivors were three children all appearing to be around the same age, one was a young red haired girl, the other was a brown haired boy, the third and perhaps the strangest was a young albino girl. Most noticeable was her distinct blue hair. Another thing of note was that all the survivors were found within a mile of each other and were all carrying some sort of reference to something called "NERV",

All four of the survivors were in various states when they were found, however they all reacted well to treatment with the exception of the final survivor. When she was found she was in the a very bad condition, however they had been able to get her into one of the intensive care units in the medical bay. The three others were fine and were expected to make a recovery soon.

It was an unusual moment for John, he had wandered the decks of the starship many times before on his own, but that was before all of this had happened. Before it felt warm, friendly and inviting but now it felt like a ghost ship. He felt a sense of unease as he turned every corridor, as if he was expecting the ghosts from his home world to be lining the corridors. Of course he doubted he would feel any more at ease if his crew were still on the ship. It would not make the sense of guilt he felt any smaller. He tried to shrug it off by reminding himself that anyone else would have done the same, but every time he thought this it just made the feeling grow larger. Still, he knew there was nothing that could have been done, the entity that attacked them would surely have destroyed the ship as well.

He moved on into the next corridor, his mind now focused on how to deal with the survivors they had found on the planet. He had sent the other three back down to the planet to look for anything else that might teach them more about what had happened, that was just over an hour ago. He was expecting to hear from them any time now.

Sure enough, his communication device beeped to signal that one of them was contacting him.

"_Captain, we have finished initial scans of the city we found those survivors in, we are now ready to move onto the building we found one of them outside of, with your permission of course."_

"Permission granted Commander, have you found anything of note so far?"

"_Nothing of major interest, however we have found a strange liquid in some areas of the city, it appears to be the same liquid we found near the survivors. Kira wishes to collect a sample to study it more."_

"Good thinking, explore the final building to see what you can find, report back with whatever you have."

_"Yes Captain."_

John switched the device off and put it back in his pocket, he stopped outside a door, opened it and moved inside. He looked around as he found himself in the ships canteen. It had still not been used. He strode over towards one of the large canteen windows and looked out at the endless realm of space.

He was startled by a clicking noise behind him, he slowly turned around to face the direction the noise was coming from.

"Don't move"

Misato had been walking through the corridors of this unknown place for quite some time, the images of what she had seen in the room were echoing through her mind. Just where was she anyway?

She continued wandering, but immediately stopped when she heard a voice. She could make out a man's voice, she made out something about searching a building.

'_So this must who brought us here'_

As the voice got closer, she looked around for a place to hide so as not to get caught. She did not know what she was up against. She quickly tapped the panel on one of the doors and stepped through to find herself in what appeared to be some sort of canteen. She looked around and spotted a bar area to her left, she quickly dashed behind the bar and ducked down.

She sat there for a few moments as she heard the door opening behind her. She kept as still and silent as she could, she could hear the footsteps echoing all throughout the area past her and towards the far area. Misato pulled her gun out of her jacket and peered out over the bar. The other person was a man, she silently crept out from the bar keeping her gun trained on him, when the person stopped immediately clicked her gun, keeping it firmly aimed at the man.

The person jumped at the sound of the gun and started to turn to face her.

"Don't move"

The man looked startled at the sight of Misato, even more so at the fact that she had a gun firmly aimed at his chest.

"I see you're awake then."

"Who are you?"

The main started to move forward but was immediately shouted at by Misato.

"I said don't move, now tell me who you are."

Not wishing to incur the wrath of Misato the man decided it would be best to answer her questions.

"My name is John Frakes."

"Ok good, now where am I?"

"That is…a little bit more complex to answer."

"Don't bullshit me, just answer the damn question."

John sighed before looking Misato in the eyes.

"Look out there, that's where you are"

He nodded towards the window. Misato looked towards where he nodded, still keeping her gun aimed at him. She started to move towards one of the other windows, keeping a firm distance between her and John whilst still aiming her gun at him. She looked out into the blackness, and dropped her gun in shock.

"What…. Where is this?"

John lowered his arms and moved towards her.

"This is what I mean by complex, you are currently on a starship which is currently in orbit around your planet. We arrived here after we detected a large explosion from this planet. When we got here we found you along with four other survivors, you were all in pretty bad condition so we took you up here and put you in our medical bay."

Misato was taken aback by the news, she had seen some unusual things in the past few months and years. Things she couldn't even begin to explain, but this was definitely a contender for top of that list. A starship orbiting her planet? She had never even thought something like this was possible. She looked back over towards the man.

"And you who are you?"

"As I said my name is John Frakes, I am the captain of this vessel."

"How many others are there?"

"Only three, you see there was a major incident on my home world but we managed to escape. We were drawn to your planet thinking that the explosion here had some connection with what had happened on our world. The others are currently down on your planet scouting out the building we found you outside of."

"Nerv HQ?"

"Excuse me?"

"The building they're in, it's the Nerv HQ."

"Hmm, when we found you four, you were all carrying cards that made reference to Nerv, what exactly is this Nerv?"

Misato looked back out the window trying to get her thoughts into order, explaining what Nerv is wasn't going to be an easy task. What exactly could she say that would make sense?

"It's an organization set up to defeat entities known as the angels, or that's what we were lead to believe. It's a bizarre story, I'm not even sure I know all the details."

The captain looked over towards her, he could see and understand what she was going through, of course what had happened to her was different. They were both the same in many ways, both had survived a catastrophic event, however there seemed to be more to Misato's story then just simply surviving.

She looked up and spoke again,

"I'm sorry I never introduced myself, I'm Misato Katsuragi."

"Good to have you on board Misato, what about the others, I take it you know them aswel?"

She smiled back at him before starting to explain about the three children.

"Yes I do, the boy is called Shinji Ikari, he's one of Nerv's Evangelion pilots, he pilots Unit 1. The red haired girl is Asuka Langley Sohryu-another pilot, she is the pilot of Unit 2. And the other girl is Rei Ayanami she pilots Unit 0."

"Pilots? Of what?"

"They are the pilots of something known as an Evangelion. They are what we used to fight against the Angels. The Evangelions were the only things that had enough power to defeat an Angel."

"And the pilots are children?"

"Yes, I know you must think it was horrible of us to force such a thing upon them but we had no choice. For some reason the only people capable of piloting an Evangelion were a selected group of Children. It has something to do with them being able to mentally link with the unit."

"So Nerv used the Evangelions to combat these beings you called Angels, but what were the Angels? What did they want?"

Misato sighed as she went over it all in her head, she wished she had someone else there to explain this or that she had a bit more time to go over events clearly. More importantly though, she wished she knew what was going on with the three children, deciding to avoid the subject of Nerv, she switched the topic of discussion.

"…. Captain, what is the status of the three children, I mean I saw Rei and she was…."

"In one of our intensive care units yes, the other two are fine, they should be awake any time now as for Rei, we aren't sure about her. We seem to have her stable but that's about it, there seems to be something different about her as opposed to you and the other children."

"Can we go and see them then, I'd like to be there when they wake up. They might also be able to explain more about what happened than me seeing as they were at the center of it all."

The captain nodded and walked over towards Misato.

"Ok I'll take you to them, please follow me."

Misato nodded back and followed the captain out of the Canteen back towards the Medical Bay.


	4. Awakening

A/N: Ok so Misato has awoken on the ship and has discovered that she is orbiting Earth in a huge Starship. Shinji, Asuka and Rei are currently in the Medical Bay, except Rei seems to be seriously ill. The rest of the crew are currently down exploring Nerv Headquarters, so here's the next part of Strange New Worlds.

Apologies in advance for including a cheesy "unfamiliar ceiling line"

**Nerv Headquarters**

The headquarters of Nerv had taken quite a beating during the JSSDF invasion and then during third impact itself, however the vast majority of the main command chambers were still intact, albeit powered down.

The door to the command center was opened as the three remaining crew members stepped inside, each of them holding flashlights. The command center was virtually undamaged, after all it was one of the most heavily protected areas of the building.

"Joanne, you take a look down there towards those three towers, Kira you take a look up there, and I'll take a look around here."

The woman nodded and they all moved towards their respective areas, as Mike moved forward towards the consoles set out on his level of the command center.

_Hmm this is odd, they seem to be working._

He pushed one of the buttons on the console and the command center sprang into life. A huge grid appeared directly in front of him showing what appeared to be a map of the surrounding area. In the top right was the label "Tokyo 3".

"Mike, what's going on up there?"

"Sorry Joanne didn't mean to startle you down there. This base appears to be able to run off of its own power source, the consoles up here are still working, what've you got down there?"

"I'm not quite sure at the moment, there seems to be three towers here, each with their own console on them. There's a logo on each tower with the word Magi and another name on each one, the first one says 'Balthasar' the second says 'Melchior', and the third has the name 'Casper'. They could be some sort of defense system"

"Right, carry on then."

Mike returned to the console, the grid appearing gave him the light he needed to see what he was doing. He moved over towards another console to the right. He tapped a button on this one and another screen popped up, this time showing the image of what appeared to be a humanoid machine. The image was fully blanked out with the text

"_Evangelion Unit 00 – Offline"_

Mike was about to tap another button when he tripped on something on the floor, he looked down to see a small computer set up. He picked it up and placed it on the console in front of him and studied the screen. This time the screen showed a different shaped humanoid machine, the text however was what really intrigued him. The words _'Evangelion Unit 02' _could be seen at the top right, however flashing underneath it was the words **'**_Warning:100 Sync" _he turned away from the screen towards his other colleague.

"Anything of interest up there Kira?"

"Nothing so far, only a desk with a few documents in there relating to a 'Gendo Ikari' there's also an empty box in one of the desk drawers. Besides that, nothing of importance."

"Ok well there is another few levels or so to explore and if I remember correctly, the signs on the way here said something about some 'Cages' and also a place called 'Terminal Dogma'. We'll check out the remaining places then head back to the ship."

The three of them moved back towards the main platform and headed back down from where they had came.

**ASPE Starship – Medical Bay**

Shinji opened his eyes slowly, looking straight up from where he lay.

_An unfamiliar ceiling_

He felt pain throughout his body as he attempted to move off the bed. He looked back, questioning what had happened to him since he awoke on the beach. The last he remembered he woke up alone and passed out some time after that. We looked around and saw he was in what appeared to me a hospital ward.

_Am I back at Nerv Headquarters? No it can't be, most of NERV was destroyed, so where am I then?_

He sat up taking a look around, it was like nothing he had seen before. He had experience in staying at hospitals but this appeared to be more advanced than any medical center he had seen. He was about to get out of the bed when the doors to the room opened and to his surprise Misato walked through, accompanied by a younger man.

"Misato?"

He stared at her in disbelief, he thought she had died when she forced him to leave her behind just prior to third impact. She turned to look at him and ran over to give him a big hug, nearly stopping the boy from breathing at all.

"Shinji, I was so worried"

She leaned back and looked at him, with a broad smile on her face and tears threatening to form in her eyes. Shinji returned the smile, also willing the tears not to form in his eyes.

"Misato I thought you… I thought you had…"

She stepped back, she knew exactly what he was going to say. She had died down there but third impact had already begun to run its course by then and she was drawn into the instrumentality process as well.

Shinji saw the sadness in Misato's eyes and decided to change the subject.

"Misato… where are we? I thought all of Tokyo 3 was destroyed?"

"We're not in Tokyo 3 anymore Shinji, I'll show you when Asuka wakes up. First of all, this is the person who found us."

The captain, who had, at this point, been absentmindedly looking at one of the consoles on the other side of the room, turned and walked over towards Shinji extending his hand.

"Hello, I'm Captain John Frakes."

Shinji shook the Captain's hand and returned the greeting, he turned to Misato again.

"Did you say Asuka is here?"

"Yes Shinji, she's in the bed over there and according to the Captain here she should be waking up soon."

"What about Rei or anyone else?"

Misato looked over towards the intensive care unit in which Rei was inhabiting, trying to figure out how to explain this to Shinji. He had surely been through enough without hearing that one of the people he cares for was lying in a critical state. On the other hand, keeping information only seemed to end up making things worse and so she decided to tell Shinji the truth.

"Well Shinji, you see Rei is currently… well she's….. they were able to find her, but when they brought her up here she was in a worse state than you and Asuka. She's stable at the moment but…"

Misato was interrupted by the Captains comm. device going off. He looked over rather embarrassed.

"Ermm look sorry about this, but I'm needed elsewhere, I'll be back later. If you need to then feel free to use the canteen, I don't know how long I'll be."

The captain exited the room as Misato breathed a sigh of relief, that was until Shinji spoke again.

"but what?"

She sighed realizing there was no way she'd be getting out of this.

"Perhaps you'd better see for yourself."

She walked over to the intensive care unit and motioned for Shinji to follow her. When he walked over she told him to look down.

"What… what's wrong with her?"

"They're not sure Shinji, they said they've got her stabilized at the moment but they said she reacts differently to their treatment than me, you or Asuka did."

Shinji looked down at his fellow pilot, he didn't know what to feel. He could only wonder what had happened to Rei during third impact, the last he remembered was her voice guiding him through instrumentality and him telling her he wanted to return to the real world.

"What about Asuka where is she?"

"Over in the bed opposite where you were."

Shinji looked over towards where Misato had said Asuka was and started walking towards her. He stood next to her bed and looked down at her sleeping face. He was about to walk away when her eyes suddenly jolted open and stared directly into Shinji's eyes.

**ASPE Starship Shuttlebay**

"_Captain, we've concluded our investigations down here, permission to return to the ship."_

"Permission granted Commander, what did you find?"

"_Quite a bit. We found out that the building we just explored was the NERV Headquarters and we also found traces of a strange liquid all around it, splashed across the corridors, in puddles in what we assumed to be the command center, and also a large quantity in an area called Terminal Dogma. Kira has taken samples of it to be analyzed when we return to the ship. We also found that it houses something called Magi and Evangelion"_

"Good work, return to the ship as soon as possible, our guests have started to wake up."

John heard a woman's voice shouting and was greeted with his Medical Officer speaking very excitedly at him.

_" Kira here how many of them have woken up and what's their condition?"_

"The older woman and the young boy has woken up, they appear to be fine at the moment although slightly shaken which is understandable. Misato gave me a bit of a shock though when she woke up, nearly killed me in the canteen."

_"Good to hear, I'll check on the other two when I return, Ensign Stewart out."_

A beep was heard from the Comm. Device as the sound cut out. John returned the device to his pocket and tapped away at one of the consoles in the shuttle bay, preparing for the return of his crew.

**ASPE Starship – Medical Bay**

Shinji was contemplating turning and running away as Asuka's cold stare was fixed on him, however he didn't seem to be able to move a muscle. Asuka looked away from Shinji and looked around the room in confusion. She turned back to Shinji who just continued to look at her almost in fear.

"Well what are you waiting for idiot, help me up."

"Uhh... sure Asuka."

Shinji stood forward and extended his hand out towards Asuka in order to help her up. He put her arm around him and helped her up off the bed, noticing she seemed to be in considerable pain. Once she was standing she tried to release herself from his grasp, however this only caused her to fall to the ground. As she fell she felt Shinji's hand clamp around her and pull her back up towards the bed. She sat up looking at him and then looking down at the ground.

"So now you decide to help?"

Misato was still standing near Rei observing the scene, she decided to leave Shinji and Asuka alone for a few moments and promptly excused herself and walked outside the room, leaving Shinji and Asuka alone.

Shinji was looking down at the ground, not daring to look Asuka in the eyes. Asuka was now staring at him intently as Shinji looked up and their eyes met. Shinji noticed that Asuka's eyes were not filled with hatred as he expected but with what seemed to be a sadness.

"Asuka I'm.. sorry for…."

"Hmmph… there you go already, I'm awake for five minutes and already you're apologizing, do you think that a simple apology makes what happened any better?"

"But Asuka… there was nothing I could do, I couldn't even get to my Eva, and by the time I could it was too late."

Shinji was now on the verge of tears as he tried to stop Asuka's verbal onslaught.

"Nothing you could have done? Did you even try? Did you see what they done to me?"

Asuka was now standing face to face with Shinji.

"Yes I saw it…."

"They ripped me apart, they tore me limb from limb."

Tears started to well up in Asuka's eyes as the memories of the fight returned to her, she threw herself onto Shinji with tears streaming down her face.

"They beat me Shinji, and I was powerless to stop them. I was useless against them, I'm not worthy of being a pilot."

Shinji looked at Asuka as she stood there sobbing away on him, he knew how much being a pilot meant to Asuka and how all that had happened had took its toll on her from the moment her mind was brutally attacked to her suicide attempt. He couldn't even begin to imagine what this had done to Asuka.

"Asuka I'm…. I don't know what to say."

Asuka leaned back and looked into Shinji's eyes, her face red from crying.

"Don't say anything idiot, stop apologizing for a moment and just be quiet."

With this, the two embraced as the tears started to roll down Shinji's cheeks.


	5. Mistakes & Forgiveness

**Unknown Ship**

A red glow emitting ominously from the center of the room, positioned around this glow were three spherical objects orbiting it, each of them drawing fire as they circled. At the head of the room a figure in a black uniform was sitting with two wolf-like animals at his side.

In front of him were two other figures, also wearing the same black uniform.

"What is the status of the project?"

"Most of the inhabitants of the second planet were harvested."

"Most?"

"Yes, it would seem that a small number of its inhabitants were able to resist the instrumentality process"

"And what is the status of the other two planets?"

The two others looked at each other fear in their eyes.

"I think you had better look for yourself, sir."

One of them produced a device and pressed a button on it. As he did so a pillar emerged from the center of the room and started emitting a holographic image showing a planet being destroyed by a spherical object.

"What is this?"

The man holding the device gulped as he went on to explain just what was being shown.

"It is the destruction of the third planet s-sir."

The person in the chair stood up and walked over towards the man.

"By who?"

"The inhabitants of the first planet…"

"You mean to tell me we are now unable to harvest both the first and third planets?"

"Yes sir, however there were survivors from the third planet."

"Good, you are to find out where they are now, I don't care if you have to search all of the quadrants to find them. We must not let them be destroyed by the inhabitants of the first, we have waiting too long for everything to go wrong now."

"Yes sir"

The man tapped a button and was immediately transported away from the area, leaving two people in the chamber.

"Why was the first planet allowed to attack the third?"

"We are unsure, I am unaware of any resistance within our ranks, I will send out a fleet of crawlers amongst our colonies to find any traitors."

"Good, do it quickly."

**ASPE Starship Medical Bay**

Neither Shinji nor Asuka had moved for nearly five minutes, they both stood there holding each other in silence. They eventually let go of each other and both of them sat on the bed previously occupied by Asuka. Shinji wiped his eyes and gazed over at Asuka who had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

He laid her back down on the bed and whispered to her

"_Asuka… I'm so sorry, please forgive me"_

He gently stroked her face and turned around to find Misato entering the Medical Bay again. He quickly wiped his eyes again to make sure she wouldn't find out he was crying and put on a weak smile as she walked over towards him.

"Misato I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For everything back at Nerv, for not doing anything, for letting you die and for letting Asuka die."

Shinji buried his head in his hands trying to stop himself from sobbing as Misato looked at him with a concerned look on her face.

"Shinji you don't have to apologize, because if it wasn't for you we wouldn't be here now. You are the one responsible for me being alive and for Asuka being alive now, you didn't let us die because we're still here."

"But Misato, I just sat there and did nothing, even when Asuka was getting torn apart I could do nothing… I'm pathetic."

"Shinji, don't say that, look, I don't know what happened down there but you can't dwell on it Shinji, we're alive now and that's what matters. You stopped third impact and allowed us to come back, you could have had anything Shinji, you could have created your ultimate world without any pain or suffering but you chose to come back. That makes you anything but pathetic."

He wiped his eyes again and looked at Misato and then looked at Asuka. Misato was right, there was no use dwelling on what had happened, he had made his decision and that was it. Maybe this would be a new beginning for him and the others. He remembered what had just happened with Asuka and how she broke down crying in his arms.

"Maybe you're right Misato."

Shinji looked at Misato then suddenly remembered something. He reached around the back of his neck and pulled off the necklace Misato had handed to him before third impact.

"Misato I…. here's your necklace."

Misato took the necklace off of him not quite knowing what to say, she leaned in to kiss him and took him into a warm embrace. The two of them sat there in silence for a few moments until they were brought out of it by the sound of Asuka coughing behind them.

"I don't believe it, I go to sleep for five minutes and already you're trying something perverted with Shinji!"

Misato and Shinji quickly released each other, Shinji turning a very deep shade of red.

"Asuka… It wasn't like that and you know it."

"I know, Misato, I just wanted to see how he'd react."

Misato giggled as she looked over at Shinji who was still very red and was staring up at the ceiling. She leaned over and put her hand around Asuka.

"So are you alright Asuka?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be, I'd be even better if someone told me where we were."

Shinji frowned as she heard Asuka's words. He knew she wasn't fine at all, but then again he knew how much she hated opening up to people, but then why had she opened up to him like that? He was snapped from his thought by Misato calling over to him.

"Shinji, come with me I've got something to show both of you."

**ASPE Starship Shuttlebay**

One of the big features of the B Class Starship was its ability to house shuttlecraft for Away missions, no longer would the entire starship have to land on a Planet's surface to carry out a mission. Instead they could just send down one of the Shuttlecraft. The shuttle bay was made to hold three separate shuttlecraft, each one capable of holding a team of four. Of course the other two shuttlecraft had not been ready when the ship made its escape so John and his crew only had one shuttle in the bay.

John stood up at the launch controls looking over the bay, it still stunned him just what was in the ship. If someone was to look at its exterior they'd never be able to tell it contained so much. He tapped a few buttons on the console and a clear force field went up around the section he was in, preparing for the opening of the Shuttlebay doors.

He tapped another button and the launch bay doors began to open allowing the shuttle entry. A voice rang out all around the bay

_Launch Bay Doors now opening, all personnel please get in position behind section A2._

John waited a few more seconds as his console beeped and the voice rang out again.

_Shuttlecraft approaching_

John looked out into the blackness of space as he heard the rumble of the approaching craft. Sure enough a few seconds later the craft came into view and turned into the Shuttlebay. It settled down in the center of the bay and John tapped a few more controls to close the launch bay doors.

The doors closed and the force field went down allowing John to walk around to the back of the Shuttlecraft to meet up with his crew.

"Commander welcome back, everything went well I hope?"

Mike stepped out from the shuttlecraft carrying a case full of samples taken on the planet.

"Yes Captain, we have collected samples of the liquid found throughout the facility. The Lieutenant and I will get to analyzing it as soon as possible."

"So what did you find down there?"

"We found quite a bit, it would seem that the computer systems within the facility are still functioning. With your permission I would like to return to run some tests on the Computer systems down there. We also found various references to something known as Evangelion."

"The woman who woke up mentioned that the three Children were pilots of something called Evangelion. What else did you find?"

"We also found references to something called Magi, SEELE and also Angels. We are, however, unsure as to what it means."

"Good work Commander, your works done for today, our guests are awake so I want all the crew ready to meet them."

The commander nodded as he stepped out fully from the shuttle with Joanne following just behind him. Finally Kira stepped out last.

"Doctor I have some good news for you, our guests have started to wake up. I asked them to meet me in the Ship's canteen when they are ready. They should be there now, or possibly still in the Medical bay if you wish to go and see them."

"Thank you captain, were there any problems noted when they woke up or not?"

"Well the older female named Misato threatened to kill me, but I think that's understandable given the circumstances. The young boy named Shinji seemed normal, I'm not sure about the other two girls"

"How did they react to the news of where they were?"

"Well only Misato knows at the moment, she seemed to react to it rather well I thought."

"It must be tough for these people, being the only survivors of a disaster like this…."

Kira paused as she realized what she had just said; she knew just how tough it must be as she had just been through it herself. The group of people they had found were the only survivors, just as the crew of this ship were the only survivors. The captain eyed her before he spoke.

"Kira I understand what you mean, that's why I want to help these people. They deserve to live just as much as we do. We were unable to save anyone else on our planet because we had no choice, but here we have a chance to save these people, it might not be much but its something, they are just the same as us."

"You're right captain, but I can't help but feel guilty about us letting all those people die."

"Don't, it wasn't your decision to leave those people, it was mine and you have no reason to feel guilt about what happened. It could have happened at any time, it could have happened two weeks or two years after our ship launched and we wouldn't have been able to stop it then. All we can do now is meet up with the colonists in the Hideaki System and explain to them what has happened. Then we can try to find out who is responsible for this."

"Yes Captain."

**ASPE Starship Corridor**

"Misato, where are you taking us? I'm sure we've passed here once before."

"Quiet Asuka, we'll be there in a second. Its not far now."

"We're lost aren't we?"

"Of course not, now keep quiet and follow me."

_Damnit, she's right I am lost, just where was this place anyway._

The three of them walked down the corridor even further before coming to a three way intersection similar to the one Misato was outside of earlier. Misato smiled to herself before turning to Asuka triumphantly

"You see Asuka I told you we'd be there in a second."

She turned to the door and tapped the button on the side to open it, the door opened and she stepped inside into…

_The Medical Bay?_

Shinji couldn't contain himself any longer and burst out laughing there and then, Asuka quickly followed suit as Misato stood there looking very embarrassed.

"This is where you were taking us Misato?"

"Shut it Asuka…."

"It looks very familiar!"

"Shut it Shinji…."

"You know I could have sworn I…"

"Oh I see you're all awake."

The three of them turned to see where the voice had came from, heading towards them was Kira. She walked up to them and stopped extending her hand out to Misato.

"Sorry I wasn't there when you woke up, I was busy helping out on the Away mission, the captain told me you gave him quite a scare when he found you up and about."

Misato giggled as she remembered just what Kira was talking about.

"Yeah… tell him I'm sorry about that, I thought we had been captured by someone, especially after seeing Rei like that."

"I understand, it must be tough for you all and I can't imagine waking up on a ship like this would help much."

She smiled as she finished speaking, she promptly started again.

"Oh I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Kira Stewart I'm the ships doctor."

"Good to meet you, I'm Misato Katsuragi, this here is Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Sohryu."

She bowed as she introduced herself and the others.

"Pleased to meet you all, if you need anything I'm usually here or in my quarters"

"Well actually there was one thing… we were wondering if you could tell us where the canteen is?"

Kira pointed straight ahead of Misato right down to the other end of the corridor.

"Just go straight ahead to that door there and that's the ships canteen, I've got to sort out a report for the captain so I'll see you later."

With that, Kira disappeared into the Medical bay, leaving Misato looking very embarrassed and both Shinji and Asuka with huge grins on their faces.

" You know Shinji… I thought this place looked familiar."

"You were right Asuka, I guess after passing it twelve times it does tend to stick in your mind."

"SHUT IT NOW!"

Misato turned to the two of them and began to chase them down towards the other end of the corridor. Shinji was the first to reach the door and quickly tapped the button to go inside, he was shortly followed by Asuka and then finally by Misato. Both Shinji and Asuka stopped when they reached the far end of the canteen and looked out.

"Misato…. Is this where I think it is?"

"That's right Shinji, this is what I wanted to show you."

"But… how…. Where exactly are we?"

Misato chuckled as she examined Asuka and Shinji's stunned expressions. She almost wished she had a camera just so she could take a picture of it.

"Well Asuka, Shinji, we're currently on a Starship orbiting Earth, you see that down there?"

She pointed down towards a landmass on the planet as Shinji and Asuka nodded.

"… that's Japan and where Tokyo-3 is, we're currently in orbit around the planet."

Asuka and Shinji stood there in stunned silence looking out at the scene in front of them, each one wide eyed and open mouthed in surprise.


	6. Restless Dreams

**Shinji's Quarters**

It had not been a good night for Shinji, he had only had a few hours of sleep despite the countless attempts. He had even contemplated going out for a walk to try and tire him out, but where would he have went. Besides he felt tired enough, it wasn't falling asleep that was his problem, it was staying asleep. Every time he managed to drift off he was confronted with a different nightmare, the last of which involving Asuka being killed by the mass produced Eva's in front of him. That was the worst and most graphic, immediately after waking he had to run to the bathroom to throw up.

He stood there splashing his face with water and looked himself in the mirror, he did not look good at all. Just how long was this going to go on for? How long would he have to live with the nightmares of third impact?

_Did I do the right thing?_

He dried his face and returned back to the main room of his quarters. He lay back down on his bed, his stomach still turning from the images of his last nightmare. Why was it that this one was bothering him the most? each of them were just as disturbing and each one just as graphic the only difference between them and this one was that this one had Asuka being killed.

_Asuka… why did I let that happen to you?_

He felt the tears well up in his eyes and immediately forced them away again, he wasn't going to cry this time, it wasn't going to help.

_What else can I do? I can't face Asuka right now, she probably hates me._

Shinji stared up at the ceiling subconsciously arguing with himself.

_But she seemed alright earlier, maybe she'll be happy to see me._

He smiled as he remember how he and Asuka had wound up Misato about how she was unable to find her way around the deck and how they passed by the same place around twelve times. Again another voice replied in his head

_She was probably just putting that on for Misato though, I know how she hates opening up to people, if I go to see her she'll probably just call me an idiot and tell me to leave._

He lay there still for a few more seconds.

_But she opened up to me before that, she's never done that to anyone, I should go and see her._

Shinji smiled as he finally came to his decision, he would go out there and see her, he decided it would be for the best. He got up off the bed and walked over to the door before exiting.

Stepping outside into the corridor he took a look around before stepping back inside his quarters, deciding that if he was going to visit Asuka she'd probably appreciate it more if he wasn't just wearing his boxer shorts.

**Asuka's Quarters**

Asuka lay awake in her bed, having given up trying to sleep hours ago. She had laid there absent-mindedly counting the stars outside the ship for a short time, but she found she got bored after the first hundred or so. Instead she lay there just looking straight up at the ceiling trying to take her mind off of the one thing keeping her awake.

_Shinji_

This was the first time she had ever thought about the third child without his name being accompanied by the word idiot, dork or moron. It was the first time she had ever thought about him without feeling resentment and it was the first time she had ever thought about him and had felt like crying.

_Why do I suddenly feel this way, is it because of how I saw him back there? Or have I always felt this way and just let my pride get in the way?_

Rubbing a hand over her face she turned to look outside the window again, contemplating the ongoing conversation in her mind. To Asuka her pride is everything, and she had a lot to be proud of but it still wasn't enough for her, she had to be the best, that's what she worked so hard for.

…_and look where my pride got me, defeated at the hands of the Eva series, I'm not worthy of being a pilot, everyone else thinks so, even Shinji._

A tear formed in her eye which she immediately wiped away, she promised herself she wouldn't ever cry again and she wasn't going to now.

…_but I did earlier right in front of Shinji._

She smiled as she thought of what had happened earlier on that day how she had felt calm and secure in Shinji's arms. She felt as if he was the only person she could open up to and that is what she had done then.

…_but he was just being apologetic and was shocked at what was happening, by tomorrow he'll be back to his old self, and besides he'll end up betraying me anyway….although he opened up to me as well, but even if I do say something he must hate me after the way I treated him. Maybe I should go and see him._

Sitting there quietly for a few more seconds a smile crept across her face as she finally came to her decision.

_I'll find him and I'll show him the real Asuka Langley Sohryu, I'll show him what's behind the wall._

**Corridor**

Shinji had emerged from his quarters and tried to remember the way to Asuka's quarters, he knew she was on the same deck as him but couldn't remember where they were exactly.

_Everything looks the same, I can see why Misato got lost now, I remember the number, It was 8-B. If I can find a map maybe I can find them that way._

He turned and started to make his way down the corridor in search of Asuka's quarters or a map of the deck.

Asuka emerged from her quarters and stepped out into the corridor, sighing heavily as she looked around.

_Damnit, everything here looks the same. It's no wonder that idiot Misato got lost. I think the number of Shinji's quarters was 7-B but these doors aren't labeled. Are these people stupid, what use is numbering these quarters if they aren't going to put the number on them._

She was about to start off down the corridor when another thought struck her.

_Maybe there's a map around here, if I can find that then it should lead me straight to Shinji's quarters._

Turning, she started making her way down the corridor completely unaware that Shinji had just gone in the opposite direction to her. She walked along the corridor looking down at the floor deep in thought.

_This ship is huge, how did they build such a thing?_

She looked up and the next thing she knew she was falling to the floor clutching her head in pain.

"You idiot, watch where you're going!"

"Me watch where I'm going, you we…"

She looked up as she recognized that voice, _Shinji._

"Shinji?"

She watched as he immediately leaped to his feet and walked over to her, extending his hand to help her up.

"Yes, Asuka?"

"What are you doing out here so late?"

"Nothing I uhh… I couldn't sleep."

_Was he out here for the same reason as I am?_

"…and I uhh... wanted to come and talk to you."

_He was here for the same reason as me, but he was told where my quarters were so why is he all the way round here?_

Asuka eyed him curiously.

"So why are you round here?"

"Well I uhh.. I was having trouble finding your quarters, how come you're out here so late?"

_Oh shi… I can't let him know just yet, but I can't just say something to hurt him._

"I wanted to talk to you about what we're going to be doing tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, Misato said that the captain was going to let us go back to Tokyo 3 to pick up supplies and I expect you to be coming shopping with me."

"Shopping? But Asuka… there's no one down there."

"Are you stupid? Ok so it's not shopping but I still expect you to be there, after all I can't have you going around new worlds dressed like that."

He laughed at her comment as he promised her he would go down with them. He suddenly felt more relieved and yawned, beginning to show signs of tiredness once again.

"Asuka I'm going to get back and get some sleep."

"Me too, good night Shinji."

The two of them turned and walked off in opposite directions back towards their respective quarters. About a minute or so later the peace was disturbed by Asuka's yelling.

"SHINJI WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Wha-what do you mean? These are my quarters."

"You mean to tell me, that you couldn't find my quarters yet they were right next to yours… what are you dense or something?"

Smiling sheepishly he looked her straight in the eyes and proceeded to reply.

"and what about you, you were looking for my quarters yet were in the same place as me."

"That was… I just fancied going the long wa… you know if it wasn't for me feeling tired right now I'd throw you off this ship, good night Shinji."

Shinji smiled as he turned and re-entered his quarters leaving Asuka outside also smiling.

_Are we both as stupid as each other?_

**Medical Bay**

"_It's been nearly two weeks since the incident and I'm still wondering if we did the right thing. The Captain has reassured me that we had no other choice and that we should be focusing on what is ahead of us, but still I can't help thinking that we should be dead along with the millions lost on that day. _

_The captain has recommended we record these audio logs, he said in the event of something happening to us, someone might find our logs and might find them some use. So here I am recording an audio log, it's a bit strange sat in here talking to myself with nothing but a child in a coma for company._

Yesterday I was sent down with Mike and Joanne to search around the ruins, we came across a building that we later found out to be the headquarters of something called NERV, Mike and Joanne are down there right now gathering more information, hopefully what they find will help lead to finding out what is wrong with Rei over there.

Three of my patients have already awoken, they were each given their own quarters and were invited to stay on the ship, they seem like nice people and I hope they accept it'd be nice to have them on board. They're due in here soon for me to carry out some extra tests on them to make sure they're doing fine. Something I did find in my initial tests when they were still unconscious, their DNA seems to be almost identical to ours even though they're light years away. It has to be more than a coincidence that we came across these people facing a similar predicament to us so soon after what happened.

_Due to them being very similar to us it makes it very easy for me to treat them with the exception of the one named Rei. For some reason she seems to be different to the others, hopefully I'll be able to find out more when Misato comes in today._

Ensign Kira Stewart out"

The computer beeped as Kira turned the audio recording program off. She chuckled to herself as she realized she had just spent the past five minutes talking to a computer. She returned to the liquid samples she had taken earlier on in that day. She had analyzed the stuff many times but was still unable to figure out just what it was, she looked at the test results another time but it didn't help.

She decided to take a different approach to analyzing it, instead of relying on a computer she'd rely on something more manual. She wasn't sure it'd help but it was worth a try. She walked over to one of the microscopes set up on the side of the lap and poured a bit of the liquid into a small dish held underneath, in the process accidentally spilling some on her hands.

_Damnit, now is not the time to start getting clumsy._

She quickly wiped her hands and looked through the microscope to see the liquid.

_Nothing, what a waste of time that was, maybe if I take a closer look._

She brought up her hand to adjust the setting on the top of the microscope then a familiar smell entered the air. She sniffed her hands again and instantly recognized the smell of the liquid.

_Blood? But why didn't I detect this before._

She didn't have long to contemplate this discovery as just at the moment when she was about to run another test a huge shockwave sent her flying across the other side of the Bay.

Getting up she pulled out her comm. device.

"Ensign Stewart to the Bridge, what's going on up there?"

There was a pause then the captain's voice came out over the device.

"_Ensign, you're needed up here now, something's attacking us."_

**Bridge**

"Commander where did it come from?"

"It just appeared Captain."

"Brilliant just what we need, Joanne what's the status on the Lightdrive."

Without even looking back from the helm controls the Lieutenant replied back to the Captain.

"Its still down sir, it should have been ready…"

"Let me guess…tomorrow? In that case we're going to have to try something more drastic. Take her down to the planets surface, we'll try to lose our attackers in the atmosphere."

"Captain I don't know if our shields will be able to hold…"

Another shockwave rocked the ships bridge.

"Do it, its better then being picked apart piece by piece here."

Sitting back down in the captain's chair he looked out at the enemy attacking his ship. John just couldn't understand how something like that could just appear, it was a huge prism shaped structure about the size of the ship if not bigger. It emitted an orange cloud every time it sent out a shockwave and it was a metallic grey in appearance.

_And just when I thought we were safe._

His comm. device beeped and he pulled it our.

_"Ensign Stewart to the Bridge, what's going on up there?"_

"Ensign, you're needed up here now, something's attacking us."

Closing the comm. device he looked back out at the viewscreen, the ship had turned and was now heading back towards the planet. He braced himself for the impact of the ship hitting the atmosphere.

When the ship was in the atmosphere he opened the device again this time to send out a message to his guests

"This is captain John Frakes, sorry to disturb you three but its urgent you make your way to the bridge as soon as possible, we've ran into a… a situation here."

He was thrown forward as the ship fully entered the planets atmosphere, his eyes were fixated on the view screen at the front of the bridge. Clouds whirred past as the blood red sea finally came into view.

The doors to the bridge opened as Kira stepped onto the bridge closely followed by Misato and the two Children, all of them with a look of confusion on their faces.

"What's going on"

Looking over at the panicked Misato, John sighed before speaking

"We're not quite sure Misato, some ship appeared out of nowhere and began firing at us, and we're trying to lose it in the planets atmosphere."

As soon as he finished speaking another shockwave hit the ship.

"Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be helping much."

More scenery whirred past as the city of Tokyo 3 came into view.

"Commander have we got any weapons online at all?"

"Only basic phase cannons."

"Good enough, target the enemy ship, I don't care where I just want to slow it down. Now when I give the word pull the ship around and fire a full volley from our cannons and fly past the enemy ship. Hopefully that should slow them down."

"Yes sir"

"Joanne, I'm going to need as much maneuvering skill as you've got put into this."

"Aye Captain"

There was a moment of silence on the bridge as the ship soared over Tokyo 3, there was a look of sheer determination on Johns face as he finally gave the order.

"Now!"

Joanne hurriedly tapped in commands on her console as Mike done the same to his. The ship spun around to face the pursuing vessel, firing out a barrage of shots from its phase cannons as it passed over the enemy vessel.

"Status"

"It appears to be dead in the water, I'm not picking up anything."

John let out a relieved sigh as he returned to his chair.

"Ok Joanne, take us back into orbit, I see no reason to hang around."

"Yes Captain."

The console in front of her beeped as she input the commands to take them back into orbit. Something strange was happening though, the ship had stopped moving and was now directly facing the enemy vessel.

"Lieutenant what's going on?"

"I… I don't know captain, the ship isn't responding to any commands, we're dead in the water just as they are."

Silence befell the bridge, Misato stepped forward into the center and looked out. In the distance she could see Tokyo 3 and the NERV Building, all around them was the sea of LCL. Staring out at the other craft she thought she saw a movement from the LCL. She immediately opened her mouth in shock at what happened next.

The rest of the crew joined up, all of them were transfixed on the events being shown on the viewscreen. Shinji was the only one who spoke.

"That's….."

Asuka immediately finished off his words for him

"….Impossible"

**A/N: There you go a nice cliffhanger to leave it on. I really had fun writing this chapter I think its one of if not my best chapter, but I'll leave that up to all of you to decide though. Anyway I've included a short Omake at the end of this one, it's probably not very funny due to my warped sense of humour but I tried anyway. Anyway thanks for reading please R+R if you have the time. **

**Omake**

Asuka lay awake in her quarters trying to get the thoughts of the previous day out of her mind. Who would have thought all this would have been possible. She turned over and tried to get to sleep when she head her door beep.

"Who is it?"

"Shinji"

_What does he want at this time?_

"Come in."

She looked over at the door and saw Shinji's figure enter the room and make his way over towards where she lay.

"You couldn't sleep either?"

"Not at all"

She saw him come over and sit next to her, what he done next really surprised her. He leaned in to kiss her, Asuka whilst momentarily stunned began to return the kiss. She gently caressed his face until she reached his hair.

_What the? What the hell is this? A wig?_

She pushed the person away and turned on the lights with the wig still in her hand, only to be confronted with a grinning Dr Frank N Furter.

"YOU!"

"I'm afraid so Asuka, but isn't it NICE"


	7. Awakening Reprise

_Silence befell the bridge, Misato stepped forward into the center and looked out. In the distance she could see Tokyo 3 and the NERV Building, all around them was the sea of LCL. Staring out at the other craft she thought she saw a movement from the LCL. She immediately opened her mouth in shock at what happened next._

The rest of the crew joined up, all of them were transfixed on the events being shown on the viewscreen. Shinji was the only one who spoke.

"That's….."  


_Asuka immediately finished off his words for him_

_  
"….Impossible"_

**and now the conclusion….**

No one dared to move their eyes which were just transfixed on the scene in front of them. Another shockwave hit the ship, rocking it slightly as the scene unfolded. The silence was suddenly broken by a furious howl as the beast that had emerged let its presence be known.

Shinji felt himself grow cold as he looked out. He thought he would never have to face this again, that it was all over. but sure enough standing in between the ship and its pursuer was the behemoth known as Eva Unit 1.

The Evangelion reared its head back and emitted another howl causing the ship to start shaking. The shaking became more and more violent until the water surrounding the pursuer got blasted up in the air, the water came down over the ships screen and this time it was Asuka's turn to go cold.

_"Unit 2? Mama… no it was… she was…"_

Eva Unit 2 emerged from the water followed by Unit 0, the crew looked around nervously. Misato had explained about the Eva Units but as far as everyone on that bridge knew they were destroyed.

"Lieutenant, get us out of here as soon as possible"

"I'm working on it captain, the ship just isn't responding. It's as if we're caught in something."

"Well try to get us…"

The captain didn't have time to finish his sentence as the three Units each emitted another deafening roar and then started to close in on the enemy ship.

"Miss Katsuragi, have you ever seen anything like this?"

Misato was snapped back to reality at the captain's questioning, her mind went over all the incidents in which the Evas went berserk, but she couldn't remember anything like this.

"No, nothing, the Eva's have been known to go berserk but nothing like this. It's almost as if they know what they're doing, as if they're teaming up."

John walked forward towards the screen, looking out as the three Eva Units continued to close in on the enemy ship. Another few seconds passed until finally the attack began. He flinched at the brutality of it. The three units were tearing the other ship apart and they were ruthlessly efficient and showed no remorse, a feeling of dread filled his stomach as he looked out.

_What the hell is this, they're tearing it apart._

Mike was still sat at the tactical console, he had not taken his eyes off of the scene. He too felt pangs of fear build up inside of him. Across from him Lieutenant Harrison had her head fixed on her console, not daring to look up for fear of what she might see.

Outside the ship the three units continued their attack, tearing into the ship like a child tearing open a present on Christmas morning. An orange liquid sprayed out of sections of the vessel as the Evangelions continued their assault.

Inside the ship Kira was struggling to keep herself from screaming out, it was like nothing she had ever seen before. No matter who attacked who, Kira was still sure there were people inside that vessel, and even though they were the same people that had attacked her home she still felt that no one deserved this. Whoever was in there was getting torn apart limb from limb with each of the Eva's attacks.

The assault continued, being lead by the vicious Unit 1. It paused and reared its head back, emitting a deafening roar as the ocean of LCL beneath it sprayed viciously covering the Evas. Unit 2 took a swipe at the vessel tearing a part of it off. An orange liquid sprayed out from the hole in the vessels hull covering Unit 2's gleaming red body.

Around the other side of the ship Unit 0 was pummeling its way through the hull with the same orange liquid spraying out and covering the Evangelion with every punch.

Back on the bridge, Shinji felt sick at what he was seeing, he knew what the Evas could do but he had always been inside his Unit whenever it went berserk, he had never had to see it doing something like this in the flesh. He glanced over towards Asuka and saw she was also growing very pale but was doing a better job at hiding her shock than him.

_What… What is this, what are they doing? They've already stopped it, why are they continuing, why are they back?_

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the attack stopped and the remains of the enemy vessel fell into the ocean. A final roar was let out by the three Evangelions and then silence. An unmistakable tension hit the bridge as the towering units stood outside motionless, motionless and with a hint of a grin. A minute passed with no one saying anything until the Commander spoke up.

"Captain our sensors, shields and weapons have came back online."

This was closely followed by Joanne speaking rather nervously.

"Engines are back online as well captain, with the exception of the light drive."

John breathed a huge sigh of relief as he heard the news, he looked out again at the three units. He was still unsure at what to do next, for all he knew they were just toying with them and at any minute now would start an attack on their ship.

"What about the other vessel? What about those? Are they… alive?."

Mike hit a few buttons on the console.

"Enemy Vessel has been destroyed, no life signs being detected, the 3 Units are also inactive. I'm not picking up anything, it's as if there is nothing out there."

_Impossible, what is going on?_

John turned to Misato in hope of an explanation, she simply shrugged unable to come up with anything.

_The Evas are clones of Adam or Lillith, they have a soul within them, but how could this have happened, all of them were destroyed during third impact. Is this someone's wish? Did they have a purpose for doing this?_

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the captain issuing new orders to Lieutenant Harrison.

"Lieutenant, take us back into orbit then prepare a shuttle, I want to find out more about what just happened. Maybe the Nerv computers can give us some information."

"Yes Sir."

"Miss Katsuragi, are you familiar with the computer systems at Nerv."

"Yes, I can accompany your crew if you wish."

"Thank you."

Back at the helm, Joanne tapped in the commands to take the ship up, but was stopped when the console responded with a loud beeping noise. She tried the command again but it was rejected again.

"Sir, it's not accepting my commands."

"I thought you said the ships engines were functioning again?"

"They are but for some reason it won't allow me to take the ship out of the atmosphere."

"Impossible, try it again"

She tapped in the commands for a third time and was rejected once again.

"I'm sorry sir it keeps on rejecting the commands, it's as if something's stopping us from leaving the atmosphere. It might be possible to land the ship on the planet until I can figure out what's wrong."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

Mike decided to interject himself at this point.

"As security officer I recommend it captain, it allows us time to carry out repairs with more efficiency than in orbit. Also, if we are in orbit we run the risk of being attacked again."

John weighed up his options and then spoke again.

"Ok land it on the outskirts of Tokyo 3, try to keep us within range of those Units, we might need to examine them later on."

**Ships Canteen**

It had been a few hours since the attack ended and the discovery that the three Evangelion Units were intact and functional. Shinji sat clutching a warm cup of tea in the ships canteen looking out towards the sea at the three motionless beasts. He glanced down at his untouched breakfast. In the past day he had felt a multitude of emotions such as remorse, anguish, sadness and happiness. Now he was feeling two more: fear mixed in with anxiety.

He looked down at his food, his appetite completely gone, he had already thrown up as soon as he got back to his quarters and he was sure that if he ate anything it would just happen again. Catching his reflection in the mirror he noticed that he was extremely pale, all this just from seeing those things again. But it wasn't just seeing them again, it was what they had done. The way they tore apart the other vessel and now the way they stood out there on the horizon taunting him.

_Am I cursed to have to live with these things forever, is there no escape. Even when I thought I would have a chance to be happy again, they reappear._

Shinji was snapped out of his thoughts when Asuka entered the room, looking over at her he could see that she was just as pale as he was. Shinji wondered if Asuka was having the same feelings as he was about seeing Eva again. He watched as she sat down on the seat opposite him and too began to glance out of the window at the three units.

_She's having the same thoughts as me about Eva, but what can I say?_

Shinji looked over towards her, she was still looking out the window at the three units. He quickly looked away when she began to turn her head towards him.

_Maybe I should do something to take our minds off of this, we were going to go into what's left of Tokyo 3 anyway, she'd enjoy that and it'd stop us from having to think about Eva._

He took a sip of tea and then put it back down on the table, trying to figure out what exactly to do.

"Asuka……"

Shinji turned to look at her and saw that she was even paler then he was, she looked really ill, he wondered if it was a good idea asking her into Tokyo 3.

"Yes."

Her reply was short and sharp, not in an angry tone but there was something else there. He swallowed as he prepared his next question.

"Well I was…. I was thinking about that promise I made to you last night and was wondering if you still wanted to go into Tokyo 3 with me?"

He felt himself begin to sweat as he got his words out, his mouth turned dry as he awaited Asuka's response. She could be so unpredictable, especially when something was troubling her. He wasn't sure if she would accept or kill him. The two of them sat there in silence for a while until Shinji decided to stop waiting.

"It's all right it doesn't matter, sorry."

He stood up and turned to head out of the room when he felt something icy cold grab his wrist. Turning around he saw Asuka looking up at him.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I… errr…"

"I'll go, on the condition you try to stop apologizing for everything that isn't your fault."

"Ok sor…"

He stopped himself as Asuka gave him a deathly glare, instead he smiled at her and she smiled back. He turned around, the feeling of dread from seeing the Eva's now pushed out of his mind.

**Medical Bay**

Kira and Misato entered the medical bay, both still in shock over the events with the Eva's. However, that was not the end of the shocking events for the day. They both entered the bay to be greeted by Rei standing over where she had previously been laying.

"Rei?"

The blue haired girl turned to face Misato, and replied back in her usual monotone fashion.

"Yes Major"

"How lo… what ha… how are you feeling?"

"I am… fine."

Kira immediately rushed forward to take a look at Rei, she grabbed one of the scanners from one of the instrument trays and began to scan Rei.

"Everything seems to be fine, she is in perfect condition." the medic remarked.

Rei looked up at the doctor, her facial expression showing slight confusion. This immediately registered with Kira who began to introduce herself.

"Sorry, my names Kira Stewart, I'm the medical officer on this ship. Tell me Rei, do you feel any discomfort or pain?"

"I do not believe so Doctor, why do you ask?"

The medic stepped back at Rei's question, this time it was Misato's turn to talk to the first child.

"You've been in a coma for the past few days, what is the last thing you remember?"

Rei looked down at the ground frowning slightly, trying to remember.

"I remember being with Commander Ikari, then a huge light, then I woke up here."

The three of them stood there for a few moments, Kira still carrying out scans on Rei and then inputting them into a computer console behind them. Misato walked towards Rei and embraced her in the same way she had hugged Shinji and Asuka when they awoke.

"It doesn't matter for now, I'm glad you're back Rei."

"Thank you major, where are the others?"

Misato frowned slightly at Rei's question, unsure of how to answer.

"I'll explain everything to you soon, I'm sure you must be hungry after not eating for all those days that you were in a coma. I'll explain it all to you over breakfast, if that's alright with the doctor over there?"

Kira looked back from the console she was at and looked at the two of them and then back at the data on her screen.

"Well I've checked and double checked the data from the scan, but there's nothing wrong with Rei, she can leave but I want to run some tests later on today to make sure I'm not missing anything. Same goes for you and the two others."

Misato grinned slightly at the mention of the tests, she had forgotten all about the doctor wanting to test Shinji and Asuka and she had promised them they could go into Tokyo 3 today to do a bit of 'shopping'.

"Umm well about Shinji and Asuka… I kinda promised them they could go into Tokyo 3 today to pick up a few things that they might need, like clothing and that."

Kira giggled slightly at Misato's explanation, after all she knew how much stress they must be under and besides she wouldn't mind going into the abandoned city for a spot of 'shopping' as well, after all she was still young and female.

"It's alright the tests won't take more than ten minutes at the most, and after which you can do whatever. I wouldn't mind taking a look around either. I'm sure after all that has happened the captain won't mind us taking a bit of time off the ship.

Misato smiled back at the young medic.

"Ok I'll go and tell them, I'm sure they'll be happy to know that Rei is awake now as well."

**Ship's Canteen**

Shinji had suddenly found his appetite again since asking Asuka to go into Tokyo 3 with him and the two of them sat there discussing what they were going to do when they got into Tokyo 3 and also what they thought of the ship. Both of them were being careful not to mention anything to do with the Evangelions, but the thoughts were still there in the back of their minds.

"Well first of all Shinji, I'm going to have to find you something to wear besides that white shirt and black pair of trousers, I mean that's all you ever wear, don't you have anything else."

Shinji looked down and grinned, rather embarrassed at Asuka's verbal assault on his wardrobe.

_She is correct though, I did have a wardrobe full of these things and maybe a change would be good._

"As for me I'm going to need loads of new stuff, who knows how long we're going to be up there. Of course I'm going to need to get accessories for everything and new pairs of shoes. It'll be good to get out of this Plugsuit as well, hey are you listening?"

Shinji nodded intently, not wanting to incur the wrath of Asuka. He was sure she was about to hit him on the head when the doors to the canteen slid open revealing Misato and

_Ayanami?_

"WONDERGIRL? She's awake?"

Shinji turned around to see Asuka's shocked expression, and laughed to himself. He waved over to Misato who began to walk towards them with Rei following behind.

"Ayana… I mean Rei, how are you."

Rei turned to look at Shinji and then responded not showing any emotion in her voice.

"I am fine thank you Ikari"

Asuka was about to speak up when she was immediately cut off by Misato informing them of the medical officers requests.

"Ok I know I promised I'd take you into Tokyo 3 today, but Kira said she wanted to run some tests on both of you to make sure there's nothing wrong."

"What! More tests, there's nothing wrong with us…" She paused for a moment then looked over at Shinji then back to Misato "…well there's nothing wrong with me at least, what's the point of running more tests?"

"They're just check ups Asuka, they won't take long. Rei and I need to have them done as well, after which you can go into Tokyo 3 like I promised. Only problem is you'll both have to go in on your own which mean's you're going to have to be very careful.

Shinji and Asuka looked over at each other, Shinji was slightly worried about this.

"Misato, what if we run into trouble there?"

Asuka looked over at Shinji, frowning slightly.

_Idiot, what sort of trouble are we going to run into?_

"What sort of trouble can we run into, besides I'll be there to protect you anyway."

Misato grinned.

"Well it's sorted, go and report to Kira in the Medical Bay, I need to talk to Rei about our situation."

Shinji and Asuka were about to stand up and leave when Misato shouted over at them.

"And you two, while you're both out there don't get up to anything inappropriate"

She gave them a sly wink, to which Shinji blushed and Asuka angrily shouted back.

"Just what are you implying Misato?"

"I'm not implying anything, just giving some friendly advice."

"Hmph, like I'd do anything like that."

"Like what?"

"Li… stop being so perverted Misato, come on Shinji we're going."

With this Asuka grabbed Shinji by the arm, nearly pulling it off in the process and dragged him out of the room, leaving a laughing Misato and a rather puzzled Rei in the canteen.

A/N: Well Chapter 7 is finally done, no Omake this time I thought the chapter was too serious to include one. Please review if you can and let me know your thoughts on how it's going so far. Also just thought I'd mention before anyone else got a chance to, my comments about females and shopping it was just a joke before anyone tries to tear my e-limbs off.


	8. Shopping & Hidden Agendas

**Unknown Ship**

"I take it the task has been completed?"

"Yes sir, all three units have been restored and awakened. They await contact with the pilots, and then our plan will be set into motion."

The man in the chair stroked one of the wolf-like creatures and looked over to the projection of the three circling spheres.

"Finally, some good news. Once contact has been made initiate stage two of our plan, we have already had to change so much we cannot let our opportunity go to waste."

"Yes sir, and what of the inhabitants of the first?"

"There is nothing we can do for now, I have been informed that a rebel faction is assisting the first therefore we must let what we have created run its course. We have given the remains of the second and third what is needed to accomplish our goal, all we can do now is wait until contact is made. Once this is done everything will be set into motion."

"Yes Sir."

**Medical Bay**

Kira placed the instrument back down next to the console and looked over at the two children.

"Ok Asuka, everything seems to be fine I'd like to run another test in a few days but as far as I can see now there is nothing wrong with you."

"Well of course not, I could have told you that without you having to run all those strange devices over me and without that idiot standing there watching aswel."

"Hey I wasn't watchin…"

Kira laughed to herself as she watched the young pilot turn a deep shade of red.

"I'm sure he was just concerned about you, besides you were fully clothed the whole time."

"Hmmph"

Asuka hopped up off the bed as Shinji began to walk over towards the two. Kira started to tell him the same as she had told Asuka before her tests.

"Ok you probably heard me saying this to Asuka but these tests won't take too long and they're just to let us know if there's anything wrong with you physically since waking up the other day."

"Ok Doctor"

"Ok then, please, if you don't mind take off your shirt."

Asuka was nearly about to leave the medical bay when she heard Kira's words.

_Maybe I should stay, after all he was concerned about me._

**Captains Quarters**

John leaned back in his chair looking at a star chart he had pulled up on the monitor in front of him. He sighed heavily as he went back over what had happened earlier that day, outside the window in his quarters he could see the three units clearly. There was so much about this planet and its people he didn't know and he intended to find out pretty soon.

Thinking about Misato and the children, he began to wonder if this wasn't just a random occurrence-the two groups of people meeting up. They had both met up after his home was destroyed and after their planet was devastated as well, surely it was more than just sheer coincidence. The two groups had so much in common as well. Kira had informed him that the two races were identical in terms of DNA and structure, which meant they were human the same as him and his crew.

He was snapped from his thoughts when his door beeped to signal someone was outside.

"Come in."

The door opened and Mike stepped through into the quarters, he stopped as he got to the captain's desk.

"Captain, Lieutenant Harrison and I are ready to go back into the NERV building. Is there anything special we require?"

"Yes, I have spoken with Misato and she said that she will accompany you on a search of the building, she knows the computer systems and the layout better than we do and so I expect she might be able to find something we will have overlooked when we were down there last."

"Good decision, I will contact Miss Katsuragi and inform her that we are ready to leave."

"Ok, good luck out there and one more thing Commander, leave the shuttle. You and the others are to go into the headquarters on foot."

"On foot? Surely it would be quicker to take the shuttle."

"Yes that is true, however it is my intention to take the shuttle over to the Evangelions to try and salvage a part of that other vessel and also to examine the three units."

"Captain, as your second officer it is my duty to remind you that ASPE regulations state that Captains may not partake in miss-…"

"…missions which may put their lives at risk? Yes I know, but I'm not putting my life at risk and ASPE Regulations do not apply."

"What about the colonies?"

"We still do not know the status of the Colonies. We must take whatever opportunity we have to examine those units, this might be the only chance."

"Captain at least let me take the shuttle and you go into NERV."

"No can do, I want my security officer in close proximity to Tokyo 3."

"Why is that?"

"I have another task for you when you have finished in NERV."

"Yes Captain."

Mike exited the room, as John laughed slightly. He then picked up a communications device and tapped one of the buttons on it.

"Captain to the Medical Bay. Kira, are you doing anything important at the moment?"

He waited a while until a reply came back over the device.

_"I'm finishing running some tests on one of the Children."_

"How long should it take to finish?"__

"About another five minutes, I can forward the results to you if that's what you wish"

"It's fine, once you're finished meet me in the Shuttlebay."

"_Yes Sir, there's something you should know first the, final child has woke up, she's with Misato at the moment."_

"Ok I'm on my way to the Medical Bay now, contact Misato and tell her to meet the Commander and the Lieutenant in the Shuttlebay and to get the three children in the Medical Bay."

"_Yes Sir, what do you have planned?"_

"You'll see."

He tapped the comm.. device and put it in his pocket. Yet another unexpected surprise, although at least this was good news for a change. He glanced out the window towards the three Evas.

_Just what do they want, am I going to be flying through the gates of hell when I go over there?_

**Medical Bay**

Back inside the Medical Bay Kira was finishing the tests she was running on Shinji. During the tests Misato had came in and left Rei with them as she had to head to Nerv HQ. There was now a noticeable tension in the room on Asuka's part, she kept switching between looking at Shinji and looking at Rei.

_I see she's no different, still just an emotionless doll._

She shuddered as she went back over her last thought in her mind. She recalled the last proper conversation she had with Rei, if she could even call it that. How she had asked Rei if she would kill herself if the Commander asked her too, the conversation that ended with Asuka slapping Rei and then running off. Asuka looked the blue haired girl up and down again, she was just standing there as if she was a piece of the furniture, standing and looking over at the young medic and Shinji.

It was then that Asuka noticed something different about Rei, she looked almost concerned.

_Maybe she isn't emotionless anymore._

She was immediately snapped from her thoughts by Kira exclaiming that Shinji was in perfect health and the tests were now complete.

"Well it's about time, come on I want to get to Tokyo 3 soon."

"Sor…."

He stopped himself, Asuka shot him a scathing glance.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Asuka, but I had to run a few more tests than I had anticipated."

"Ok, so we can go now?"

"Yes you're free to go, although if you're planning to leave the ship you might want to talk to the Captain fi.."

She was interrupted by the Medical Bay Doors opening and the Captain stepping into the bay.

"Ensign can I have a quick word with you?"

"Yes sure thing Captain."

She and the captain walked out into the corridor leaving the three children standing inside the bay.

"Right so where are we going first, I know we can go to one of the clothing stores so I can get some different clothes besides this plugsuit, I guess I have to look out for something for wondergirl now aswel."

Shinji was rather puzzled by Asuka's words.

_Did she just say she was going to get something for Ayanami as well?_

"I'm afraid I do not understand."

Asuka slapped her hand against her forehead at Rei's response.

"I should have known, Rei you do know where we are don't you?"

"Yes Miss Katsuragi has informed me that we are on a Starship and we will be joining the crew of the ship."

"Yes, well today us three are going to go into Tokyo 3 for a spot of 'shopping'"

Shinji spoke up.

"You mean Rei's coming as well."

"Of course she's coming idiot, you didn't think we'd just leave her, what are you stupid?"

_She's actually being nice to Ayanami._

"'Shopping'?"

Asuka sighed heavily getting clearly agitated at what she thought could end up being the conversation to turn her insane.

"Yes wondergirl, you are familiar with the concept of shopping aren't you."

"Yes, I was just wondering how we are going to do any of this activity when there is no one around to buy anything off."

"Well…"

Shinji laughed slightly at Rei's statement, Asuka shot him a glance that quickly silenced him.

"Well... Ok it's technically looting but does it matter, we're going to be doing it anyway, you didn't expect to travel around the Galaxy wearing that Plug suit all the time did you?"

"Well I..."

"Of course you didn't don't worry I'll sort you something out, besides I need some female company to ensure Shinji doesn't peek in when I'm trying things on."

**Corridor**

"Yes Captain"

"Ensign Stewart, how are you with piloting shuttles?"

"I've had basic training but that's about it."

"Good enough, how do you feel about accompanying me on a mission in one of the shuttles?"

"I guess I could do it, why what do you have in mind?"

"I want to take a trip over to the Evas to examine them and also to salvage what I can of that other vessel."

Kira gulped slightly as she heard the Captain's 'plan'

_Is he insane, after what we saw those beasts do today he wants to go over to them?_

"Captain are you sure going over to the Evas is such a good idea, especially in one of the shuttles? I mean what if they attack us?"

"If they attack then you're to take the shuttle back to the ship as quickly as you can and inform the crew and get the ship away from here as soon as possible."

"Understood... hold on I'm to take the shuttle?"

"Yes you are."

"But what about you?"

He produced a harness from behind him and grinned at the young medic.

"Me, I'm planning to do a bit of climbing. I want to abseil from the shuttle onto the Eva and examine the Entry Plug of the Unit if I can, if they do come alive chances are I'll be inside the plug, if this is the case you are to unclip me and get yourself away as soon as possible."

"But Captain…"

"That's an order Ensign, I'll be waiting in the shuttlebay. Also I understand the children want to go back into Tokyo 3, give them this comms. device. I've tuned it to match the one Misato has, if there is any trouble they are to return to the ship as soon as possible, I do hope nothing will happen though."

He handed Kira the device and started to walk down the corridor towards the shuttle bay leaving a bewildered Kira.

"Yes sir…. He is insane."

**Nerv HQ**

NERV headquarters was still in the same desolate state as it was a few days ago when the away team first made their way through. The team of Mike, Joanne and Misato stepped onto the main NERV Command center, as they did so Misato felt a chill run down her spine.

She glanced around the center surprised at how much was intact.

_Guess the JSSDF didn't have a chance to get in here._

Misato moved forward towards the three computer terminals where the three technicians, or 'Bridge Bunnies' as they were sometimes known, would sit and report on the Evas. All that remained were the computer consoles, three broken chairs and traces of LCL. She felt sick at the sight of the LCL.

"Problem Misato?"

"No I'm fine Lieutenant, just trying to get used to being here again."

"Its alright take your time."

"Thanks."

Misato smiled at Joanne as she stepped forward towards the terminals.

_They're still functioning, time to see what they say. _

She tapped one of the buttons on the console, and the holographic grid appeared above them showing Tokyo-3 and the surrounding areas. Mike and Joanne looked up at the grid, they had seen it before when they were in, but now there were three new additions.

Mike decided to ask Misato about the grid, still looking up he began to speak.

"Misato can you explain what this is exactly?"

"Sure, this is a map of Tokyo 3 and the surrounding areas. It shows the location of the Evas and the target-usually an Angel. Of course at the moment it's not showing anything except..."

"..the location of the Eva units."

"Yes, which means the Magi should be able to give us a reading on the Units. Commander could you go over to the console on the far right and activate it."

Mike walked over to the console and tapped a button on it making it spring into life, the image of Eva Unit 00 popped up on the left of the screen and to the right different readings regarding the unit appeared. Misato walked over to the console, she wasn't sure what most of the readings meant as it wasn't her job, she breathed a sigh of relief as she read what was flashing at the bottom of the screen though.

"It says it's deactivated and there's no pilot."

The three of them exchanged glances, until Joanne questioned Misato.

"Then what was controlling it earlier?"

"When we were using the Evas before third impact they had sometimes been known to act of their own accord, you see the Evas are clones of the first angel Adam but they are controlled by the armour and the pilots or even…."

"So they could come alive again?"

"They could but they won't, there's something else I didn't think of about them but…. no that can't be it."

Misato turned to face the holographic grid and began to explain her thoughts on what might have happened.

"About ten years ago, one of the children with me Shinji, lost his mother during a contact experiment with Unit 1, she was absorbed into the Eva and has never been retrieved. After one of the confrontations with the Angels Shinji was absorbed into Unit 1 as well and he mentioned that he saw his mother, she is the soul that resides within Unit 1, that's what could have been controlling it, she was protecting Shinji."

"But what about the other two Units?"

Misato lowered her eyes at Joanne's question, it seemed to make sense for Unit 1 but the other two she didn't even know where to start.

_There's still so much I don't know_

"I don't know about the other two, if we can log into the Archive we might be able to find something though. I'd like to find out more of what NERV was hiding as well."

**Tokyo 3**

Despite the attacks on the geofront, most of Tokyo 3 seemed to be untouched. Shinji wasn't sure if this was due to some force during third impact putting it into a habitable state or if it was like this before and after third impact. The three children walked down one of the empty streets, it sent chills up and down Asuka and Shinji's spines, Rei however was unfazed by it.

A few turns later then finally arrived at their, or rather Asuka's destination.

"This is the place."

Asuka stood in front of the place with her arms held out triumphantly. Shinji felt himself die a little inside as he looked into the clothing store. Rei however was intrigued by Asuka's sudden burst of joy at coming across a store, to Rei it was just a store out of many stores and it served a purpose. There was no need to get excited over it.

"Well are you two just going to stand there all day gawping or are you coming inside."

Asuka grabbed hold of both Rei and Shinji's arms and pulled them into the store. Once the three of them were in Asuka looked around, and grinned when she finally found what she was looking for.

"Ok, first Menswear for the idiot here, then I'll sort out wondergirl here then get what I need."

The three of them walked over to the menswear section and Shinji started looking around at everything that was on offer.

_These are…expensive... I'm glad I don't have to pay for them._

He walked up to a shirt rack and started absent-mindedly flicking through the different shirts on offer, he picked up one that caught his eye, it was a black shirt with the symbol of two crossed hammers on the upper right of it. He draped it over his arm and picked out a few more that he liked.

After about ten or so minutes Shinji finally finished picking out what he wanted. Before he could put them all away he was stopped by Asuka.

"Hold on, I want to make sure you haven't picked out anything that's going to make you look stupid. I can't have you making me look bad when we're off on some distant planet."

He gulped as he handed what he had over to Asuka so that she could give him her approval.

_Why is shopping with women so complicated, even when it's for something I need they have to complicate it?_

Asuka however was thinking something completely different as she looked through what he had chosen.

_Wow, he's got taste he'll look great in these, but he'll look even better in what I've picked for him as a surprise._

She stuffed everything into the bags she had snagged from one of the cash desks and handed them back to Shinji.

_Hmm not bad at all._

**Eva's**

"Captain, are you sure about this?"

Kira shouted from the side of the shuttle, looking out at where the Captain was. The shuttle was currently suspended a few feet above Eva Unit 01 with the Captain currently preparing himself to jump from it and onto the shoulder of Unit 1.

"I'm sure, just make sure you keep the Shuttle in this position unless there's some trouble. If there is then unclip me and get away from here as soon as possible, that's an order."

She sighed heavily.

"Yes sir."

John held his breath as he readied himself to jump out of the shuttle, he gave his harness one final check to make sure he was clipped in. He released his breath and took a running jump out of the shuttle and landed firmly on Eva Unit 1's shoulder. He steadied himself before beginning to walk along towards the neck of Unit 1 where Misato had told him the Entry Plug was.

_Now, how the hell do you open this thing?_

He didn't have too long to think about it, he felt the unit begin to tremble. Over his headset he heard his Medic calling to him.

"_Captain what's going on out there."_

"Nothing to worry about Ensign I'm still here."

The trembling subsided as the Entry Plug shot out of Unit 1s neck.

_Does it know why I'm here?_

John reached up and pulled himself up into the plug and then gently lowered himself into the command center of the Plug. The plug was empty save for a few traces of LCL and the seat which the pilots sat in. He placed his hand on one of the triggers as the machine gave another shudder.

_What the…._

He didn't have long to think as suddenly the entrance to the plug closed and he felt it slide back into the neck of the Eva. Liquid began to pour into the entry plug as the captain looked around for a way out.

_A/N: Ok bit lighthearted this one, but I always like to leave it on a cliffhanger. Next chapter will cover more of the 'shopping' trip to Tokyo 3 and also what has happened to the captain. As always please leave a review if you can. On another note this chapter brings me up to a few milestones. First of all Chapter 7 heralded my 20th Review so thanks to anyone whose took the time to review it, this chapter brings the fic. to over 20,000 words and also over 50 Pages in word._


	9. Trapped

**Nerv Headquarters**

"Misato, you'd better take a look at this"

"What is it?"

Misato walked over from the console she was at to see what it was that the Commander wanted, she looked down at the screen and was filled with the same sense of dread she had felt on the bridge earlier.

"Eva Unit 01 is awake!"

"Yes but take a look at what it says underneath."

Misato glanced down at what Mike was pointing at, she gasped as she read the writing on the screen.

'_Pilot Sync .25'_

"A Pilot? We need to warn the others."

"Agreed, I'll contact the Captain, is it possible to contact whoever is piloting that thing?"

"Yes, I'll try now."

Mike nodded and moved away towards the back of the command center taking his Comm. Device out. He flipped it open and tapped one of the buttons on it.

"Commander Sharpe to the Captain we have news that one of the Evas has awakened and there seems to be a pilot within it"

He waited a moment nothing came through on the device.

"Captain, please respond."

Again nothing came through on the device.

_Shit, he must have already gone over to the Evas with Kira._

He tapped another button on the device and spoke into it again.

"Commander Sharpe to Medical Officer Kira Stewart please respond."

He waited for a moment for a reply.

_"Co……d..r…..e…..re…..h…………ca….au……as…g..e….i.to…..ev…..ost……tact!"_

The message was followed by static, Mike closed the device and hurried back over to Misato and Joanne, who were now trying to establish contact with whoever was inside the Eva.

"Joanne, try opening the channel again, I think I might have it"

"Right."

Joanne tapped away on the keyboard trying to establish contact with the pilot again, however they had little success.

"I'm not getting anything, it's just rejecting all commands."

Misato sat back glancing at the screen showing the data for Eva Unit 01, the sync ratio was still at 25 which meant that whoever was inside wouldn't be able to move it, however she knew that it was possible for the Eva to move of its free will so they couldn't rely on a low sync ratio for safety.

_Damnit, how did they return and why. It's not possible, they were practically destroyed in third impact._

Her stomach tightened with fear as she looked at the giant 3D Map in front of them, the symbol for Eva Unit 1 lit up near the top of the display.

"Misato is there anything we can do to power down the Eva."

Misato went through the possible options in her mind about what could be done to power down the Eva. She knew Eva Unit 01 had an S2 Engine so they couldn't rely on waiting for it to shut itself down.

"We could eject the entry plug, without a pilot to sync with the Eva might power itself down."

Misato walked over to where Joanne was previously sitting in order to eject the plug.

"Commander, were you successful in getting in contact with the Captain."

Misato glanced around at the two ASPE Crewmembers, she was surprised at how calm they were in the situation, they had both seen what the Evangelions were capable of when awake, yet they were both remaining calm.

_Maybe it's because they've seen worse destruction._

"Not yet, I attempted to get in contact with Kira, but something was interfering with the channel, that is not what I am concerned with at the moment, before we left, the Captain informed me that it was his intention to take a Shuttle over to examine the Evangelions and also to try and salvage anything from the vessel that was destroyed."

Misato turned and stood up at this news.

"You mean he… he went over to them after what he saw happen earlier today?"

"Yes he did, it was my duty as first officer to try to persuade him not to go over as I felt it was a situation where the Captain's life may be at risk, he however informed me that there was no risk involved."

"Stubborn fool…"

Alarm bells started ringing in Misato's head as she realized just what might have happened. She quickly dashed back over to the communications section of the consoles.

"Misato what are you doing, don't we need to eject the entry plug."

"We do, but I want to try one more time to get in contact with whoever is in the plug, how do your Communication devices work."

The two crew members looked at each other rather puzzled as to why Misato would ask about their Communication devices. Joanne spoke out.

"They work by sending a special transmission that links up with a selected frequency built into each device, this allows us to contact each other or another ship almost instantaneously, our ships communication systems work in the same way."

"Can they be used to operate on normal radio frequencies, maybe we could use it as a booster to establish contact with whoever is inside the Eva?"

"It might take a bit of tweaking but it's possible. I'll need the frequency though."

"I can give you the frequencies, but you and the Commander will need to modify it."

Misato sat at the keyboard as Joanne pulled out her Comm. device to try and establish Communication with whoever was inside the Eva Unit. A few minutes passed and she finally stopped working on the device, she handed it to Misato.

"Wow, you work pretty fast."

"It didn't require as much tweaking as I thought, besides I'm used to working under pressure especially with the Light Drive, one wrong move when repairing it and the entire ship would be destroyed."

"Ok then, here we go, seeing as we're using your device it'll be Audio only, but let's see if we can find out whoever is in there."

Misato paused for a moment trying to figure out just how exactly to use the device, Joanne laughed a bit and pointed to where Misato was meant to talk into on the device, Misato tapped the button on the device to open the communications channel and began to speak.

"This is Misato Katsuragi to whoever is inside Eva Units 01's entry plug, please state your identity."

They paused a moment as they waited for a reply, after a few moments it finally came through as the three of them looked on in shock at the identity of the pilot.

**Tokyo 3**

It had been an hour since the three children had entered the store, Shinji had finished gathering together what he wanted and everything he had picked had Asuka's approval. Whilst going around clothes shopping wasn't exactly Shinji's sort of thing, he was pleased to see Asuka enjoying herself and it also allowed for the three of them to act somewhat normal for a change. The store being empty didn't bother them one bit, it was just the fact that they could relax for a short while and not have to worry about Eva or Third Impact.

Shinji yawned as he sat on the stool waiting for Asuka to come out of the changing rooms, he was surrounded by various cases full of clothing they had chosen. He glanced over at Rei who was standing by one of the mirror looking at what Asuka had chosen for her to wear. It was very different from what Rei would normally wear, it was a plain black dress with white dots around it. Shinji had to admit Rei did look good in it, and the several other dresses and outfits Asuka had made her try on. After Asuka had finished, Rei had around two or three suitcases full of clothing as opposed to Shinji's one. Naturally Shinji was made to carry it all by Asuka.

He wondered to himself just why Asuka was being so nice to Rei, she had been nicer today then she had been to her since they first met, although Asuka did still refer to her as Wondergirl. Looking back over at the changing room he yawned once more then glanced at Rei again, he decided to try and strike up some form of conversation while they waited for Asuka.

"So Rei, how are you feeling since you woke up?"

"I am feeling fine, thank you Ikari."

Her voice was still the same as it always was, not so much emotionless but short and to the point. He decided to try something else.

"Asuka picked out quite a bit for you, do you like what Asuka has chosen?"

"Yes they are nice. I do not understand why she places so much importance on such an occasion though."

Shinji chuckled for a bit before replying.

"You and me both, she's really enjoying herself here."

He got no response from her so he went back to looking at the ground. Shinji wasn't sure why but he was certain he detected something different about Rei. She acted pretty much the same as she usually did, but something about the way she spoke was different, there was more emotion in her voice, and she kept glancing around as if watching for something.

"Ok I'm ready, tell me what you think."

Shinji snapped himself from his thoughts at the sound of Asuka's voice, this would be about the twelfth thing she had tried on and would most likely be the twelfth time Shinji would comment on her looking nice, whilst in his mind wanting to scream out

"_Damn you look absolutely stunning, you are one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen."_

He prepared himself as Asuka stepped out of the changing rooms, she was wearing a dark red dress. Shinji had to stop his jaw from dropping to the floor, she looked beautiful in it, he could barely get his words out.

"Asuka you… you lo… you look great."

Asuka looked over at him with a grin on her face, she could see just how red he had become.

_Just the reaction I was going for._

"Why thank you Shinji, now I'll just change out of this then I can get more casual things."

Shinji groaned to himself at the mention of getting more, however he was unable to think about it as when he looked over at Rei he noticed something very peculiar. Rei was learning forward with her head down. She was holding her head with her hand and using the other hand to keep her held up.

"Rei... are you alright?"

He heard her groan slightly as he rushed forward to see what was wrong with the girl.

"Rei? Are you feeling ok?"

Shinji held his hand on her should as the girl began to vomit still clutching her head. Shinji was now beginning to get more and more frightened at what was happening.

"ASUKA, quick something's wrong with Rei."

Rei stumbled back and collapsed into Shinji' arms. Still unsure of what to do, he dragged her over to the bench he was sitting on before and lay her down on it waiting for Asuka to come out of the changing room.

_Damnit why, does something always have to go wrong?_

**Eva Unit 01 Entry Plug**

John frantically looked around the plug for a way out, the liquid filling the plug was now up to his knees. He pulled out his comm. device and once again tried to contact Kira in the shuttle outside. Receiving no response from the Officer he put the device away and looked around the plug for anything that might be of use.

In the centre of the plug was a seat with two handles at either side of it, he assumed this was where the pilot sat when in control of the Eva, but then what was this liquid filling the plug?

Without thinking he sat down in the pilot's seat and grabbed hold of the handles, the liquid was now up to his waist and was continuing to fill up the plug. As it continued to rise the smell of it began to fill his nostrils.

"_Blood? This stuff smells like blood."_

Suddenly the panel in front of him changed to show the entire view outside. Directly in front he could see the still form of Eva Unit 02, and to his left the form of Eva Unit 00. Under this new view screen that had appeared the three consoles in between the handles lit up to show the remaining battery time of the Eva, current sync ratio and also the damage status of the Eva.

The liquid was now rising towards his neck as he sat there waiting for what he thought to be his inevitable death.

_So this is how it ends, I drown in an entry plug for a giant robot._

"_This is Misato Katsuragi to whoever is inside Eva Units 01s entry plug, please state your identity."_

He glanced around looking for the source of the voice.

_Misato? But how have they gotten in contact with me from the Nerv HQ.  
_

"Misato, I'm afraid I seem to be in a rather bad situation here."

He waited a while until the voice of his first officer came back over the Evas comm. system.

"_Captain, is that you? What's the situation there?"_

"Yes, I'm trapped inside the entry plug, and there seems to be some sort of liquid filling it up, it's up to my neck now I need to get out of here."

Another moment passed until Misato came back over the system

"_That liquid, do not worry about it, it's the LCL we use to establish a better link between the pilots and the Evas. It'll oxygenate your lungs once it fully covers you and you'll be able to breath as normal. Just don't try to swallow any of it."_

"Right."

John braced himself as the liquid continued to fill and went over his head. He closed his eyes and resisted the urge to scream out or panic as he began to breathe steadily.

"Ok it's filled the plug what now?"

"_Ok, we're trying to eject the plug, but it seems to be rejecting our commands. There should be a lever within the plug itself to eject the plug, try and find it then try to eject the plug from inside the Eva."_

Looking around the plug he searched for the lever to eject the plug, he ran his hand along the side of the seat until he found a level of some sort. He pulled it back and watched the main viewscreen for some sort of visual confirmation that it was the eject level. Sure enough the words

EJECTING ENTRY PLUG

Flashed up on the screen, he breathed a sigh of relief as he heard a clunking noise from inside the plug.

"Ok the plug seems to be ejecting, what now?"

Outside on the other two Evas john noticed something strange about their actions, the two plugs on the other Eva units had ejected just after he pulled the lever.

_What the hell is going on?_

He didn't have too long to think about it as he felt himself being forced upwards as the plug shot out of the back of the Eva and the LCL drained out of the plug.

**Tokyo 3**

"ASUKA, Hurry up something's wrong with Rei, she's collapsed."

Asuka came rushing out of the changing rooms wearing only her bra and a pair of shorts.

"What do you mean she's collapsed idiot?"

"I mean she's collapsed, quick we have to help her."

Shinji looked over and Asuka and immediately went red when he looked at Asuka's semi naked form. She glared back at him and shouted back.

"This is no time for you to be perverted dummkopf, go and contact Misato or someone using that device."

"Uhh, sure thing, sorry Asuka."

Shinji moved away from Asuka who had now propped Rei's head up on her knee and was trying to wake her up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the device the Captain had previously gave him and hurriedly tapped one of the buttons on it trying to contact Misato to no avail.

"Asuka, how exactly do you use this thing?"

She glared up at him again.

"Give it here you idiot, I'll get in touch with her."

Shinji threw the device over to Asuka who tapped two of the buttons on it and spoke into the device.

"Misato?"

She paused a while and no response came from the device.

"Stupid thing, its obviously broken, that means we'll have to take her to the ship ourselves. Shinji you carry her, I'll get something for all this stuff here."

She got up and went in search of something with wheels to load all the cases onto leaving Shinji to try and pick Rei up. She was about to get out of the section when she realized she was still only wearing her bra and a pair of shorts.

_ARGH, Stupid Shinji for letting me walk away like this, stupid Wondergirl for spoiling everything, probably done it on purpose._

She stormed back over to where Shinji was previously and took one of the shirts she left on top of cases and went back over towards where the trolleys were kept. She wheeled one out and quickly ran with it back over to Shinji and Rei.

"Ok Shinji, load all the cases onto this and then we'll take them and wondergirl back to the ship and see what's wrong with her."

Shinji glanced back at her, he had just picked Rei up and now she wanted him to load up the cases. She looked back at him and then realized just why he hadn't moved yet.

"Ok I get the idea, I'll do it, you just focus on… doing something."

Asuka began to load up the cases occasionally looking over at Shinji who she could see had a very worried look on his face.

_Damnit, why can't something go right for once? All I want is to be happy, is that so much to ask? Stupid wondergirl having to screw everything up, and I tried to be nice to her._

She went back over her own thoughts and realized she might have been a bit unfair on Rei then.

_Ok so it's not her fault, but when we get back I want to find out what I missed when I was comatose from Shinji, he knows something about Wondergirl that I don't._

_A/N: Ok that's Chapter 9 Complete, I did intend for this to be a little bit more lighthearted but I sort of delved away from it. Sorry to any fans of Rei for what I've put her through so far, but I am building towards something big for Rei so don't worry too much. Anyway here's some Omake, free of charge and fat free._

**Omake**  
He prepared himself as Asuka stepped out of the changing rooms in black stockings and suspenders... he looked again, that wasn't Asuka! It was someone else.

"How do you do?"

"Who are you?"

"Why me, I am the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Dr Frank N Furter, Shinji and I hope you're adaptable, I know Asuka is."

The mad transvestite Doctor winked at Rei, who was now looking very shocked. Shinji by this time was starting to sound quite angry.

"You fiend, what have you done with Asuka."

"Nothing… why? Do you think I should?"

_A/N: Apologies for the awful Doctor Who joke, and possible for the entire Omake, I should learn to not let Frank N Furter out in public, but it's so hard not too. I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway, as always please review._


	10. Two Lost Souls

"_These are the last ones!"_

_Asuka moved her Eva towards the final units of the Eva Series and prepared to strike the final blow. Suddenly a warning siren filled the entry plug signaling that something was flying towards her, she quickly spun Unit 2 around and extended her A.T Field towards the incoming object. The object stopped in midair, it was one of the Eva Series lances, she waited for it to drop but then it begins to transform into a Lance shaped weapon._

"The Lance of Longinus?"

_Her A.T. Field couldn't stop the lance, it tore through the field and slammed straight into the head of Unit 2. Asuka immediately cried out in pain and clutched her eye. Her Eva fell backwards as it finally ran out of power, Asuka clutched the controls trying to get her Eva to move._

"_I'll…. Kill you…"  
_

_She whispers at first, as the Eva Series begin to regenerate and start swooping around her. She repeats it again, this time getting louder each time._

_  
"I'll kill you…, I'll kill you… I'll kill you…. I'LL KILL YOU!"_

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

She screamed out loudly and sat up waking from her nightmare. Asuka was no stranger to nightmares, having suffered from them for a year or so now. This however was one of the most intense nightmares she had ever had, she could literally feel the pain in her eye from the fight. Asuka instinctively brought her hand up to her eye to make sure it was just a dream, she breathed a sigh of relief to find out she was fine.

_Another nightmare, all because of that stupid Eva Unit and stupid Wondergirl, I hate it all._

She got up off the bed and went to get herself a drink of water. She felt lost at this moment, she had hoped today she'd be able to get away from thinking about Evas and anything that caused her pain. Of course that all went wrong at the very beginning of the day when the ship was attacked by some other vessel leading to the three Eva Units surfacing from the Sea of LCL and tearing apart the other vessel. Immediately after the incident she had to run back to her quarters to avoid being sick in the corridors or on the bridge, then when what she hoped would be a good trip into Tokyo 3 turned into disaster because of Rei passing out she had to rush back to the ship with Rei nearly being sick on her.

**Canteen – Earlier that evening.**

"What did the Doctor say about wond… I mean Rei"

Shinji eyed Asuka curiously, it was not like her to show concern for anyone, let along Rei. He took a sip of his tea and told Asuka about Rei.

"She said she probably passed out due to heat exhaustion, but she wants to keep her there overnight just in case. Misato was worried sick about what happened because of Rei's condition."

_Rei's condition? That confirms it there is something about her I haven't been told._

Asuka had always thought there was something unusual about Rei, since the day they met she had taken a dislike to her simply because of the way Rei responded to her request to 'be friends'. She couldn't help but feel slightly concerned for Rei at this moment in time after all they were all in the same situation.

She looked over the table at Shinji, he had been quieter then usual since they got back to the ship. From outside the ship the silhouettes of the three Eva Units could be seen looming in the distance with their entry plugs now fully exposed almost daring someone to enter. They had of course been told about the incident with the captain getting trapped in Unit 1's entry plug.

_Do the Evas want something, am I going to have to pilot again?_

A sense of unease went through her as she thought of piloting an Eva again, she used to enjoy piloting Eva… it used to be what kept her going and something for her to be proud of, she was for that moment in time Asuka Langley Sohryu - master pilot or Evangelion Unit 2. In those times she could never understand why Shinji hated piloting, having the chance to be a hero, to be popular and famous, wouldn't everybody want that? It wasn't until later she began to understand but even then she couldn't bring herself to face the fact that she was just the same as him, fighting for reasons never given and for themselves.

_Well this time, if I have to pilot again I'm not just doing it for myself, this time it's for all those people who were lost and for all the people on this ship._

"Asuka…?"

She barely noticed him speak, she was so engrossed with the three shadows outside the ship. She slowly turned her head to see Shinji looking at her with a concerned look on his face.

"Asuka...are you alright?"

"Of course I am idiot, why wouldn't I be?"

It was a natural response of hers to call Shinji an idiot, when she first met him she actually meant it, now she didn't it was just a response she knew she was trying to stop but just couldn't help herself all the time.

_Must be the twelfth time I've called him an idiot today._

As he smiled, Asuka found herself thinking about her feelings towards Shinji. She was confused as to how she truly felt about him, when she woke up she was sure she had hated him and even wanting to kill him for letting her die out there, but after she felt him hold her she realized she didn't hate him she wasn't sure what she felt.

"Do you think… the Evas want something?"

She eyed him curiously, she knew what the Evas were. She knew they were clones of the first angel but constricted by armour plating and she knew the soul of her mother dwelt within her Eva.

_Is it the same for Shinji?_

"What do you mean?"

"Well we get attacked by that other vessel then all of a sudden the Eva resurface and save us, but then we can't leave. What if the Evas want something from us, and aren't allowing us to leave until they get it?"

_Is he serious, what a stupid thi…_

"The souls within the Eva do not wish to be left alone here."

She jumped slightly at the sound of Rei's voice and then tried to figure out what she had just said.

"What do you mean do not wish to be left alone here, so they want us to tie them to the ship and fly through space with them attached? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"I do not know Pilot Sohryu, but they do not wish to be abandoned."

Asuka shivered as she heard the word Pilot.

"Rei, call me Asuka ok, I'm no longer a pilot."

"Ok Asuka, I understand."

The room filled with silence as both Asuka and Shinji observed Rei, eventually Shinji decided to make a comment.

"So Rei, how are you feeling, I thought Kira was keeping you in overnight."

"I am feeling fine, Doctor Stewart has advised I get something to eat however."

Rei was about to turn and walk over to get something to eat, however before she did she turned to Asuka.

"Asuka I would like... to thank you for today, it was an enjoyable experience."

She then promptly walked off leaving Asuka blushing slightly and also confused.

**Asuka's Quarters – Present Time**

_I don't think I'll ever understand her, one second she seems like she has a personality and the next she acts like a doll… like she doesn't have one. She's strange._

Asuka finished her glass of water and looked outside, the figures of the Evas still lurking in the horizon. She squinted slightly, she could swear there was a light near the Units.

_Something's going on over there, I wonder if Shinji kno…._

Her thoughts were broken by her doors buzzer going off notifying her that someone was outside. She quietly went over wondering who it is.

_Good thing I'm already awake or I'd have killed whoever it is._

She tapped the button to open the door and was greeted by Shinji.

"What is it Shinji? I was trying to sleep."

"Sorry Asuka but it's important..."

She quickly cut him off.

"It better be dummkopf."

"I couldn't sleep so I looked out and there's something going on at the Evas, they've sent one of the shuttles over there again."

Asuka stood back a bit allowing Shinji into the room, the two of them walked over to the window to observe what was going on. In the darkness they could make out a search light flickering over the Evas and lifting out what appeared to be one of the entry plugs. The two of them stood in silence for a minute or two watching the scene until Shinji broke the silence.

"Asuka, a few minutes ago when I was watching them go out there I thought… well it was probably just my mind, but I thought I heard someone screaming from inside here."

_Damnit, he heard me waking up from my nightmare, I forgot his quarters were next door to mine._

"Someone screaming? No ones been screaming in here, I just got up to go to the bathroom and hit my foot on the door frame that's all. Nothing to get worried about."

"Oh right."

"Is that what made you come in here?"

"Ye.. well that and I wanted you to see this."

_He was concerned about me, and I just lied to him about it. It's nothing to do with him anyway he probably wouldn't care even if I did tell him._

Silence fell across the two children again as they quietly watched the events over at the three Eva Units.

**Shuttle**

The entire crew and Misato were inside the shuttlecraft, boxes and wires were spread around them.

"Kira are you exactly sure that's what Rei said?"

"I'm certain of it captain, Misato was there as well, she told us the Evas do not wish to be abandoned here."

Misato simply nodded in agreement, she was still trying to figure out exactly what Rei meant by her words. Earlier on in the day Asuka and Shinji had brought Rei into the medical bay after she had passed out. Kira had told the children it was due to heat exhaustion however the crew and Misato knew different. They had detected it from Nerv, around the time Rei fell ill her Eva unit sent out a signal towards Tokyo 3, they had of course not told Asuka and Shinji about this so as not to worry them.

"Captain we are approaching the three units."

"Ok Lieutenant you are to keep us in place over the entry plugs, we'll start with Unit 00, me and Commander Sharpe will abseil down and connect the wires to whatever parts of the plug we can. When we give the signal raise the shuttle and pull the plug out. Misato and Kira, you will act as back up in case anything happens to me and the Commander, if anything does you are to bring us in as fast as possible."

A collective 'Yes Sir' was heard around the shuttlecraft as Mike stood up and walked over towards the back of the shuttle.

"Ok Captain, the shuttle is directly above the plug of Unit 00."

"Ok Lieutenant, you all have your orders."

John and Mike put on their harnesses and connected themselves to the safety catches on the shuttle as the shuttle doors opened. The cool night breeze blew into the shuttle as they aimed the shuttles main searchlights onto the uninviting entry plug.

"Nice night to jump out of things wouldn't you agree commander."

The commander grinned back at him.

"Sure beats the spacewalks at the ASPE Academy."

"They're not so bad, you just have to not focus on the stars."

They were interrupted by Misato.

"Ok when you boys are done talking about your heroic adventures you might want to start this."

John mumbled slightly.

"Yes Captain."

"I'll push you out there in a minute."

He laughed slightly.

"Ok, me and the commander will jump first, then feed us down the clamps for the plug. Once its attached reel us back in and take the plug towards the cargo bay, we'll try and get all three plugs tonight."

He took one last look around the shuttle and began his descent out of it and towards the plug, closely followed by Mike. The three remaining women all looked around at each other awaiting the signal to proceed to the next part of the plan.

"Misato… do you think this is a good idea?"

Misato looked up at Kira, she was thinking the exact same thing herself. She had seen what the Evas were capable of first hand, she wasn't sure that loading them onto the ship would be such a good idea, but they have no choice.

"I really don't know, but it looks like we don't have much of a choice now. Even if we do get them on the ship though how are we going to fit them out for space combat, the Evas were made for fighting on land."

The Lieutenant decided to interject herself into the conversation at this point.

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem, it'll just take a few modifications to the armour. When I was looking through the NERV files earlier I noticed blueprints for possible modifications, if we follow those we should be fine."

A frown came across Misato's face.

_And it's back to the Evas once again, how are the children going to react to them being on the ship, is it right of us to subject them to it. I just hope they don't have to pilot them._

"What do you think the children's reactions will be to seeing the Evas again? I've already noticed Shinji and Asuka aren't reacting to well to seeing them again, let alone having them on the ship."

"Rei will be fine with it, she's the one who informed us about this. I don't know how Shinji and Asuka will react, every time Shinji piloted Eva it just brought him pain. Asuka used to be proud of piloting Eva, but towards the end it just started to cause her pain as well."

The three of them were silent for a few more moments until they heard the captain shouting up to hand down the clamps. Immediately Misato and Kira began to feed the clamps for the plug down towards the Captain and Mike. A few more moments passed as they waited for the signal to move onto phase three of the plan, lifting the plug out of the Eva.

"Ok, Misato, Kira, bring us up and inform Lieutenant Harrison to begin to lift the plug."

Misato tapped the button next to the safety clamps on the shuttle which began to winch in the Captain and Commander. A few seconds later the shuttle could be felt moving upwards and back towards the ship.

**Asuka's Quarters.**

Back in Asuka's quarters both her and Shinji were watching the operation intently, both wondering just what was going on. They watched as they saw the shuttle moving upwards and seemingly lifting the entry plug up with it. Shinji watched intently, his stomach churning as he thought of what this might mean.

Asuka had the same feeling, they were bringing the entry plugs back to the ship, she cast her mind back to what Rei had said earlier on that night.

"_The souls within the Eva do not wish to be left alone here."_

Her mouth went dry as the shuttle got closer to the ship, the entry plug held firmly under it. She moved back from the window and quickly dashed into the bathroom locking the door behind her, leaving Shinji to observe it alone.

Shinji continued watching, not daring to move so as not to miss anything.

_This is it, I'm going to have to pilot again aren't I? Only this time it won't be for NERV it'll be for these people around me and for myself._

He turned as the bathroom door opened and Asuka walked out looking paler then before, she walked over to the bed and threw herself down on it without speaking or looking at Shinji. He knew straight away what was wrong, he had seen glimpses of it during instrumentality and third impact, Asuka was the same as him, she didn't want to pilot any more than he did and she was having the same trouble sleeping as he was.

He glanced out again and saw the shuttle moving back over to get another entry plug and decided it would be best to head back to his quarters, as he stood up and began to move towards the door he was stopped by Asuka calling out to him.

"Shinji… you can... stay in here the night."

"Thanks bu…"

"Please."

She sounded so vulnerable when she asked, the thought of piloting affecting her more than he had first thought. He decided that it would be best if he did stay there for the night if it would help Asuka. He walked over towards Asuka's bed and sat on the edge and spoke to her.

"Ok Asuka I will."

He desperately wanted to hold her or something but couldn't bring himself to do it, she just simply lay there staring at the wall not moving. He was about to get up when she grabbed hold of his hand and squeezed tightly. He turned again to see her looking up at him, traces of tears in her eyes.

"Thank… you."

_A/N: Wow, I wrote this in a four hour burst, usually I write a chapter over four days. I'm really really really really proud of this chapter. I feel it's done a lot to develop the story and the characters of Asuka and Shinji. I wrote this whilst listening to Dream Theater's Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence Disc 2 and then for about 2000 words or so it was Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds. There's something about that album that just allows me to write freely and easily. Anyway enough advertising please review if you can._

I'd also like to take this opportunity to say RIP to the founding member of one of my favourite bands. RIP Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, while I was not a big fan of his, his influence is everywhere in Floyd's music and many more, Shine On You Crazy Diamond.


	11. Decisions

**Asuka's Quarters**

Shinji woke up feeling calmer than he usually did, the events of the past night still at the forefront of his mind but for some reason he didn't feel scared by it. He sat up and looked around, suddenly becoming aware of the fact that he was not in his own quarters.

_Oh no, if she knows I'm here she'll kill me…._

He tried to get up off the bed but was stopped when he noticed Asuka was still gripping his hand tightly. He looked down at her sleeping form, remembering that it was her that asked him to stay there and it was her who grabbed hold of his hand. He smiled at how peaceful she looked as she slept.

He leaned over slightly and looked out of the window at the forms of the Evangelions, Unit 0 had been moved, units 1 and 2 were still standing motionless in the sea of LCL. Shinji jumped slightly as he heard Asuka muttering something in her sleep, he looked back down at her face and felt her hand begin to tighten around his.

Suppressing the urge to yell out in pain, he carefully leaned back on the bed bringing himself face to face with Asuka, her hand still tightening round his as she began to whimper slightly.

_She must be having a bad dream… but what can I do?_

He brought his free hand up and began to move it slowly towards her face to try and calm her down. He got half way there before feeling the courage pour out of his body.

_No… I need to do this... I mustn't run away._

He began to move again until he reached Asuka's face and began to caress it gently, whispering slightly.

"It's alright Asuka, I'm here."

He caressed her face gently again and just kept his hand there for what felt like an eternity until Asuka started to calm down. He felt her release the grip on his hand and he smiled gently, still caressing her soft face. As he was about to move his hand away, he felt Asuka other hand clamp around his arm, as it did Asuka's eyes began to open slowly.

The two of them sat there for a few moments looking each other in the eyes, trying to guess what each other was going to say or do.

_Oh my god she's going to kill me._

Shinji felt himself frozen in place and unable to move or speak, he just kept looking straight ahead into Asuka's eyes. After a few moments she eventually released his hand and sat up.

"Asuka… I'm sorry."

She smiled slightly anticipating this from Shinji, she was unsure of how to respond though, she couldn't hide behind anything and call Shinji a pervert for lying and sleeping on the same bed as her, after all it was her who asked him to stay. She felt slightly hurt by his apology though.

_Damnit, I thought I told him to stop apologizing!_

She turned and looked him in the eyes, trying to look as angry as she could.

"What are you apologizing for now?"

"I uhh…. This I guess"

She clamped her hand to her face and groaned.

"Are you stupid? I was the one who asked you to stay here"

He looked at her and blushed, fully realizing just how silly his apology sounded.

"Yes… but…"

"But nothing… what did you think I was going to call you a pervert and hit you? Do you really think that someone like me would be capable of such things?"

He looked at her stunned at what she had just said, was this the same Asuka he had known for the past 8 months, the very same Asuka who called him a pervert and hit him for so much as looking at her let alone sleeping in the same bed.

"Well then you'd be correct!"

She then reached behind her and picked up the pillow from the head of the bed and started hitting Shinji with it. She then began to speak hitting Shinji with the pillow between each word.

"I… thought… I… told…. you… to… atop… apologizing!"

Shinji quickly brought his hands up to cover himself, it was no use as he soon found himself on the floor with Asuka looking down on him triumphantly.

"Ok I get it, I'm sorry. I'll stop apologizing!"

_Did he do that on purpose or is he really that stupid?_

She helped him to his feet and then turned to look out the window, suddenly being reminded of the reason why she had asked Shinji to stay with her last night. She felt sick as she saw the remaining two Eva's outside. Asuka turned and noticed Shinji was now sitting next to her, also looking outside at the two Eva's.

Eventually she got up and moved over towards the wardrobe and started flicking through what to wear for that day. She was just about to take her pajama top off when she realized that Shinji was still in the room sitting on the bed.

"Shinji…"

He turned his head to see Asuka staring at him, she was semi naked however she had her breasts covered with her arms and the bundle of clothes she was wearing for that day. He felt himself turn very red at the sight.

"Yes Asuka?"

"Do you think you could perhaps… leave while I get changed?"

"Uhh… Of course."

"Thank you, and don't start getting any perverted ideas while you're waiting for me."

She grinned as she saw him glow even redder at her words.

_He is so easy to tease._

**Cargo Bay 1**

There it stood, or in this case lay. It had taken most of the night to get the Eva into position and now it was firmly attached to the ship. The ship had a total of three Cargo Bays, one on what was considered to be the bottom of the ship and two on each side. Cargo Bay one lay on the bottom of the ship. Each cargo bay had several docking clamps for when the ship needed to dock with another starship or star base.

The Eva's were to be held to the ship by the docking clamps, in front of the Eva's were a steel section, that when the Eva's were to be released would move out and so allow the Eva's to be released. Just above the topmost docking clamp was the entry plug for the pilots. It was the hope of the crew that the Eva's wouldn't have to be used at all, and would just be a precaution in case. After what Misato had told them about the children's experiences with the Eva's they all felt it was a bit unfair to make them have to pilot again.

Across from Unit Zero were crates containing the Eva's weaponry and ammo, throughout the night they had salvaged as much as they could from Tokyo 3 and Nerv, they still hadn't developed a system for weapon load out yet but Joanne was working on it. She was also working on converting the Magi to be compatible with the Ship's systems to allow them control other the Eva's functions.

It had been decided by the Captain and the rest of the crew that Misato would take care of tactics involving the Eva's, it was not something she was entirely comfortable with. The whole saga with the Eva's had taken as much of a toll on her as it had the children, she had lost her father to the experiment that led to the Eva's creation, her lover Kaji had been killed trying to find the truth behind Nerv and their goals and she had nearly lost Asuka and Shinji, the two people who she now felt were her family to third impact. The Eva's to her were now no longer humanities savior but the cause of humanities destruction. Yet she still felt a sense of pride when she agreed to take command of anything regarding the Evangelions in combat.

_I hate these things all they've done is cause people pain and now I have to command the children in them again, but why do I feel pride in the fact that I'll be commanding them again? Is it because this time I know I'm fighting for the right cause, or is it because it's all I have to identify myself by?_

Misato stood motionless looking down at Unit Zero. Despite how hard she had worked in the past few days and all the stress that came with it, she had not slept at all the previous night. Her mind was focused on how she could bring herself to tell Asuka and Shinji about this. Rei already knew about it, she had been informed earlier on that morning, her reaction was what Misato expected however there was something in Rei's face that Misato couldn't place, a look of sadness or even anger at being informed she might have to pilot again.

_Of course we wouldn't have reclaimed the Eva's if it wasn't for what we saw in Nerv and what Rei told us in the Medical Bay, but why are the Eva's trying to communicate with her, is it because of who she is?_

It led into another mystery that no one had an answer for. Yesterday when Misato, Mike and Joanne were in NERV they had detected a signal being sent from one of the Eva Units in the direction of Tokyo 3, this was around the time that the children were inside Tokyo 3 and the time when Rei fell ill. Naturally they had covered it up telling Asuka and Shinji that Rei had fell victim to some form of heat exhaustion, it was Misato's idea to tell the Children this, her thinking was that the last thing the children needed to hear was that the Eva's were trying to communicate.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

She turned to see the Captain standing at the entrance to the Cargo bay, she was surprised to see he wasn't wearing his usual ASPE Uniform but had instead opted to wear something more casual.

"No, I was just thinking about if what we're doing is right."

He walked over to her and lent on the railing whilst looking down at the Eva, when he had gave the order to salvage the Eva units he had been through his own moral dilemma. Misato had told him certain details about the Eva's. He had seen what they were capable of and he had been told that it was because of the Eva's that this planet was in the state it was. He also had to take into account the safety of his crew and ship, what if one of the Eva's went, as Misato had put it 'Berserk" whilst attached to the ship, they didn't have the resources to repair a hull breach in the middle of space. His guests were also a big concern, he had been told by Misato what had happened when the children were inside the Eva's, and he didn't want to have to burden them with something like this, especially not after they had nearly lost everything. Eventually he came to the conclusion that the Eva's were to be used in extreme circumstances or when it was impossible to use anything else.

It had not been easy for him to persuade Misato either to even consider going near the Eva's. His job was made easier when they learnt that Rei's illness had been triggered by a signal being sent from the Evangelion Units. He looked down at the sleeping behemoth wondering just what lay in store for them all in the future, he then responded to Misato's statement.

"I've asked myself the same question, the last thing I wanted was to risk the safety of this ship and it's crew, but at the moment it looks like we have no choice."

"But we all know what the Eva's are capable of, you seen it first hand yesterday, and I don't even know if Shinji and Asuka are going to agree to piloting again."

"If they don't accept then there is nothing we can do, I said the Eva's were only to be used as a last resort, but if they do accept this time will be different."

"How do you mean different?"

"You told me that during the Angel War, no one really knew why they were fighting or what for, that your organization NERV was having its strings pulled by another organization and everyone within NERV was being used with exception of two people who actually knew the truth. Everything that happened there happened as part of some scenario those bastards had planned out, this time there is no scenario, we're all at the same level."

"I guess you're right, but how am I going to be able to tell Asuka and Shinji about it, you should have seen them yesterday after the Eva's first appeared. Both of them were affected by it badly, and that was just seeing them let alone having to get inside them again."

"It's not going to be easy for them, but I'm not going to force them to pilot if they don't want to, it's a last resort. This ship is capable of handling itself, it's got a full arsenal of phase cannons and torpedo launchers, I doubt we'll even need to use the Eva's."

**Hybrid Ship**

_Ayanami…_

"_Who is this?"_

_Ayanami…. I wish to show you something._

_"What do you wish to show me?"_

_What you will be up against._

Rei felt herself being pushed through the darkness which enveloped her, a weird sensation went through her almost as if she was being transported along a great distance. The sensation left her body and the darkness began to form into a blurred scene. She found herself in a long darkened corridor, everything around her was made of steel and along the walls appeared to be doorways into some type of holding cell. There were about four of them on each side of the corridor.

She began to walk along the corridor, as she did she noticed orange smoke rising out of each of the holding cells, her stomach turned as the familiar smell drifted around her, the stench of LCL. She began to move forward into the next room, in front of her was a huge tank with various pipes coming from the metallic structure and being fed into the walls. The same orange vapor floated from the top of the tank. She brought herself nearer to the tank and could hear a faint noise signifying something was getting pumped from the tank through the pipes.

She looked around and saw one of the pipes going down one of the corridors leading out of the room, slowly Rei began to follow the pipe down the corridor. This corridor was slightly longer then the previous one, she noticed a walk way above her and could hear loud footsteps from it, the feeling of fear came over her as she began to sweat slightly. The walls were lined with the same holding cells seen previously, she continued moving until she reached a holding cell that was slightly open. She cautiously placed her hand on the cell door and opened it, slowly peering inside.

The inside of the cell was big enough to hold one human, along the back were several pipes with LCL dripping out of the end of them. On each side of the cell were various panels and flashing lights, Rei ran her hand over one of the light but jumped slightly when she heard a clanging noise of something moving towards her on the walkway.

She quickly jumped back and hid in a little section next to holding cell opposite, waiting for whatever it was to pass her. The fear gripped her as the noise began to get louder and louder, eventually the noise stopped and she noticed that whatever it was had stopped directly in front of her. Looking up she saw what the being was, it was a humanoid however It appeared to have some form of black plugsuit, on the beings head was a full mask with a pipe leading from the head down to the being side. On the left arm was a device near the wrist which provided some form of information relevant only to the being.

The humanoid turned its back to her and tapped a button on one of the panels on a holding cell. The cell door opened and out stepped another humanoid completely identical to the one before, however this one appeared to be female. As the female humanoid stepped out of the cell Rei noticed the clear pipe detach itself from the roof of the cell and attach itself to the side of the humanoid, as it detached it sent LCL spraying all over the cell.

The two beings turned and began moving away from the cells, back from where the first being had came. Neither of them exchanging any words. Rei cautiously stepped out from where she had been hiding and began to follow the two beings slowly. She stayed a constant distance behind them as they moved down the corridor past more holding cells. Eventually they reached another circular room, however this one did not contain a large tank, instead there was a huge console in the middle. The two beings moved around to one side of the console and activated a holographic image over the console.

Rei stayed hidden in the corridor observing the two humanoids, she was scared but was very curious as to what the two beings were actually doing. She observed as one of them moved towards a console on the wall and brought its hand up to two slots, she flinched as two needle like objects extended from its hand and into the slots. As it did so the holographic image over the console began to flicker into life. She could make out different things on the console, in the centre was what appeared to be a planet and next to it was a small spherical shape moving towards the planet.

"_What… is this meant to be?"_

She kneeled down observing the two humanoids going about activating different panels, each one working efficiently and without communication.

_This is all I can show you, my power has weakened, you must go now…you are needed._

Rei jumped as the voice from before suddenly spoke to her again.

"_Who are you?"_

_That is not important Rei Ayanami, I will communicate with you again in the future, when is not important, take what you have seen here and use it well._

The voice faded again and the scene in front of Rei began to blur slightly and she felt herself being thrown into darkness again. Moments later she found herself back inside the medical bay confused as to what she had just seen and to who had just spoken to her.

**12:00 Noon – Captains Quarters**

The three children had been called into the Captains Quarters a few moments ago, they had been accompanied by Misato. The children along with Misato and the Captain were the only people on the ship at the moment, the remaining three crewmembers were currently working on transporting the remaining Eva's from the LCL Ocean. Asuka and Shinji had seen the shuttle flying out there early on that morning but had not mentioned anything about the Eva's to Misato. They both, however, had a good feeling about the reason they were there.

John stood up leaning against his desk, clutching a data pad in his hand. He looked at the children whilst trying to figure out how to phrase what he was going to say. He looked over at Misato, she was looking over towards the three children with a concerned expression on her face. Eventually he began to speak.

"Ok, I'm sure you're wondering why I've asked you in here and I'm afraid I have some bad news."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

".. last night me, Misato and the rest of the crew members began a project to bring the Eva's onboard the ship, it's not something I would have liked to do but we looked at the situation and I wasn't given much choice."

He looked around and saw Asuka and Shinji had both turned pale, he looked at Rei who had also turned slightly paler than usual. Misato then began to explain her part.

"This means that unfortunately you three might have to pilot again, however we're giving you a choice, if you do not wish to you do not have to. We don't wish to use the Eva's and they will only be used as a last resort. In fact if anything they will be used for evacuating you three in case of an emergency, hopefully you will not have to pilot them at all."

Asuka stepped forward out of the three children and began to respond to Misato.

"Hmmph, piloting that thing again, too easy. I'll do it, the great Asuka Langley Sohryu will pilot again."

After speaking she turned and winked at Shinji, as she did so he began to smile slightly as he felt more confidence seep into him. He then too stepped forward, as he did so he felt Asuka slip her hand into his.

"I'll do it, this time I'm not going to let anyone down."

Misato looked at the two of them, she was stunned that the two of them were holding hands but also at them accepting to pilot again. She then turned to the final person who had not yet said anything.

Rei then too stepped forward and simply remarked.

"I'll pilot again."

A/N: Wow, quite a long chapter this one, hope you all liked it, anyway one thing I should address is Asuka and Shinji's burst of confidence at the end. This will probably become apparent in the next chapter, but they both accepted that they're going to have to pilot again but this time they're going to do it to protect the people they love and not because its all they have. Anyway hope you liked it, please review, I'm looking forward to seeing what people think of it so far. I'm not protecting a length of chapter for this, instead I'm going to release this in blocks, there's an ongoing storyline I have planned but what I'm going to do is split it up into separate sections, this is so I don't end up with a fic that's about 60 chapters but instead 6 separate fics of about 10-12 chapters each. This is just so it doesn't seem daunting to read. One final thing, I also have a website for the fic, the link is in my profile.


	12. To Boldly Go

**Bridge**

It had been two days since the children had agreed once again to pilot the Eva's. Since that day, the crew had been hard at work transporting Units 1 and 2 to the ship and attaching them to the docking clamps on either side of the ship. It was good news for them that the Eva's were a perfect fit for the docking stations, directly in front of each unit was a sliding entrance that was previously used to protect the docking clamps, now however they had a more important use and that was protecting the Eva Units from the harshness of space.

Each of the Units had been clamped into place with the entry plug mechanism parts and was ready for use. In each of the cargo bays were several tanks of LCL to be used for launching the Eva's. They only had a limited supply but a storage technique developed by Joanne meant they would have enough to last a couple of years or so until a suitable replacement could be found.

Misato was still uncomfortable about the fact that the Eva's would have to be used again but she had been surprised that both Shinji and Asuka had decided to pilot again, especially Shinji as he was the one who had been hurt the most by the Eva's and had always hated piloting, yet he seemed almost confident about it. Misato hadn't yet asked where this sudden burst of confidence in Asuka and Shinji had came from, she had meant to but had been far too busy getting everything ready for the tests today and for the ships launch. She had made so many trips back and forth to Tokyo 3 for supplies in the past two days she was starting to get bored of looting the same shops. Of course she had made sure to stock up on essentials such as beer and instant meals, much to Asuka and Shinji's dismay.

Of course she wasn't alone in her trips back and forth to Tokyo 3, in the past few days the three children had also been sent back and forth multiple times to gather items for the crew. Seeing as they were incapable of piloting a shuttlecraft they were in charge of gathering clothing and smaller medical supplies for the upcoming launch.

She had also had an unexpected surprise when she returned to her flat to pick up a few of her and the children's things, a surprise in the form of a reunion with her pet PenPen, the bird was a bit wild when found having had to survive for the past week or so on it's own, but it had began to adapt to life on the ship and was now back in the routine of being fed fish and stealing Misato's beer.

So now Misato sat on the top level of the bridge directly in front of a specially set up console used for monitoring the Eva Units and for giving commands to the three children. Misato felt a slight flutter in her stomach, she was incredibly nervous about today, it was the first time they were going to perform a sync test on the ship, and the first time they would be able to see if Joanne's modifications to the Magi Computers and the Eva's would actually work. Given the past track record of first times back in Nerv, Misato had good reason to be a bit nervous about the upcoming events.

**Unit 01 Entry Plug.  
**_So here I am again, back in the plugsuit and sitting in the entry plug once more._

Shinji felt a wave of nausea pass over him as he shuddered slightly, he closed his eyes trying to block out the sight of the entry plug around him. Throughout the morning Shinji had been nervous and slightly emotional at the thought of having to go near Unit 01 again. The past night hadn't helped either, he had had no sleep at all and had been sick several times worrying about today's test. To make matters worse, Asuka had not spoken to him at all today, not that he had attempted to make any conversation with her either, she had just sat opposite him in the canteen not saying anything. Neither of them had said anything to each other since last night. It was a far cry from the moments they shared three nights ago when they stayed in Asuka's room.

_Why did I agree to this, nothing good is going to come of it, nothing good has ever came from me piloting Eva._

He tried to focus on something else other than Eva to try to eliminate the feeling within him, when his mind suddenly switched to Asuka. Shinji wondered if Asuka was having similar thoughts as him. He knew Asuka wasn't overjoyed at having to pilot her Eva again, she had told him two days ago when he had stayed in her quarters. He had also told her about his feelings on piloting Eva, and they had both agreed that if they had to they would do it again, but not because this time it's all they had, but this time to protect the people around them.

Shinji had of course not told her this, but the person he wanted to protect the most was Asuka, ever since she had broken down in his arms in the Medical Bay after she woke up. He had felt things for her, he knew before this that he was attracted to her but the events in the medical bay elevated it to something more.

_I wonder how Asuka is doing, maybe I should send her a message and ask. I'm sure she won't mind._

**  
Bridge  
**Misato was still seated behind the console awaiting Joanne bringing the Magi online. Stood behind her was Mike working at the bridge-engineering link up console. In front of her was John sat in the Captains chair also waiting for something from Joanne. John was also slightly nervous about the upcoming sync test, he had been briefed on them by Misato. She had told him that the tests would involve the children getting into the entry plug and them being filled with LCL. The plugs would then be inserted into the three Eva Units where they will stay for an hour while Misato monitors the sync ratio of the children.

Misato had informed him as well that the sync tests were a fairly straightforward affair but there had been one or two incidents in the past. It was these incidents that disturbed him, the last thing he wanted was for one of the three Units to go berserk and tear a hole through the ship. A beep rang through the bridge as everyone turned towards the source, the captain pressed one of the buttons on the communications console to his right and began to speak.

"Captain Frakes here."

"_Captain, its Kira, I'm on my way from engineering to the bridge now, Joanne said she will be ready to bring the Magi online soon."_

"Ok good, Frakes out."

He sighed heavily as he switched the comm. link down and went back to waiting for word from Joanne. A few more moments passed until the comm. device beeped again. Tapping the button once more, he awaited word from his Lieutenant.

"_Captain, Lieutenant Harrison here, I have completed the final modifications to the ships computer and the magi systems, I am about to bring the Magi online."_

"Excellent, make it so."

**  
Unit 02 Entry Plug**

Asuka sat in the plug looking straight forward, she had not moved for the past ten minutes. She didn't want to admit it to herself but she was actually scared, in fact she was terrified. So much had happened to her the last time she was inside this entry plug and inside the Eva, she was finding it really hard to put it out of her mind. Last night she had suffered another nightmare relating to what had happened before, this time she was inside the entry plug just as she was now, and as soon as it was inserted she was back in the battlefield with the nine MP Eva's surrounding her. Only this time they didn't attack her and tear her apart, this time they went into Nerv and pulled out Unit 01 and began to tear it apart while she was powerless against them, she remembers waking up screaming as Shinji's corpse was flung from his Eva onto hers by one of the Units.

_Come on Asuka, that isn't going to happen it was just a nightmare, we're all safe including Shinji._

She felt strange as she thought of Shinji, she had been thinking about him more and more since she had woke up in the medical bay last week. Asuka couldn't quite figure out what it was about him but whenever she was with him she felt safe, just like she did two days ago when he stayed with her in her quarters.

_Am I becoming attracted to Shinji?_

She went back to two days ago when she had the conversation with Shinji about having to pilot again. She had actually confessed to him that the reason she piloted before third impact was because Eva was how she defined herself. It was all she had and he had told her the same thing.

_Maybe we're not so different, we both piloted Eva for the same reason, and we both agreed that if we were to pilot again it'd be for the people around us this time, and not just for ourselves._

She jumped a bit as a communication window appeared on the screen in front of her, on the screen was Shinji's face. She noted that he was very pale and was probably feeling similar to her.

"_Hey Asuka... good luck with the test."_

He smiled at her and she began to feel slightly happier and more confident, her reply reflecting this.

"Luck? I don't need luck, just watch as I the great Asuka Langley Sohryu show everyone on this ship just how great a pilot I am."

She smiled back and him before continuing.

"…and Shinji, you'd better be on top form as well."

She winked at him as he laughed.

"_Ok, I'm not going to make this easy for you, I'm sure you'll do great though." _

**Bridge**

The Magi systems were just about ready to come online, Mike had set up the link with Joanne at the engineering station and was preparing the final stages. He tapped a few commands in on the console and then reported the status to the observers on the bridge.

"Bringing Magi component Melchior online"

The view screen at the front of the ship had changed to reflect the three Magi components. As Mike relayed the information to Misato and the Captain the Melchior component on the view screen lit up. Misato smiled slightly as she looked at the information on her console.

"Melchior online, I'm detecting no problems so far. You're ready to bring the next component online Commander."

"Sure thing Misato, bringing Magi component Balthasar online"

The same process repeated itself as Mike brought the second of the three Magi components online. A short time passed until the Balthasar component lit up on the view screen. Misato watched as the second of the three Magi components came online, as it did she began to feel slightly more confident about the entire process.

"Balthasar now online and functioning, we're ready for the third now."

"Ok, bringing the final Magi component Casper online"

As easily as the other two the third Magi component came online, Misato breathed a sigh of relief along with the Captain, but they still weren't in the clear yet. The Magi was only part of it they still had to perform the sync tests on the pilots. The final component flashed up to signify it was online. Misato reported the status to the captain.

"The third Magi component is…"

Just as she was about to report that it was online the lights began to dim on the bridge. Immediately the Captain got up and moved around to the back of the bridge whilst attempting to contact Lieutenant Harrison in the engineering.

"Lieutenant what's going on? Something's going on with the power."

"_Nothing to worry about sir, an unexpected energy fluctuation when we brought the third Magi System online, I should have it fixed in a few seconds"_

As soon as she finished relaying this to the Captain the lighting on the bridge came back online. A collective sigh of relief was heard all around as they prepared themselves for the next stage, the sync test.

"Ok so now for the next stage, Misato establish contact with the pilots and inform them we're ready to begin the sync tests."

Misato nodded slightly before opening up the communications link with the three pilots.

"Ok you three, the Magi systems are online and we're ready to begin the tests now, it's the same process as usual, it's only to test that the systems are able to detect the changes in the sync rate, so try not to worry about your rate at the moment."

Almost immediately she got a response from the three pilots and began the procedure of lowering the entry plugs into the Eva Units.

"Ok bringing the Plug system online."

She tapped a few more commands on the console before reporting her status.

"Lowering the plugs into the Units"

Her console in front showed the pilots vital signs, she noted that Shinji and Asuka's heart rate had increased as she began the process of lowering the plugs.

"Pilots vital signs are stable, the plugs have been lowered, beginning to fill the plugs with LCL now."

She kept a close eye on the video link of the three pilots. Asuka and Shinji were both sitting with their eyes closed, Rei however was looking straight forward seemingly unfazed by the process. When the LCL had finally filled all three of the plugs she then went into the final stage.

"Beginning sync test now."

Misato watched as the three different ratios appeared on her screen, all three of them were fairly low at the start which was to be expected. All three of the children were hovering around the borderline rate which was needed to pilot the Eva Unit's.

_They're still able to pilot them at least_

A few more minutes passed as the sync ratios on her screen began to rise marginally. She was surprised to see them rising or being anywhere near where they were especially for Shinji and Asuka. She waited a few more moments before reporting the status to the Captain.

"Everything is going well so far, all three sync ratios are above borderline and so all three are able to pilot if necessary."

"Hopefully it won't come to that, keep me updated on the progress of the test."

**Engineering**

The engineering section was the heart of the ship, it not only contained the core for the light drive but it was also the location for the ship's main computer system. It was supposed to have been inhabited by three or four people at all times due to the nature of the drive and the constant maintenance it would require. At the moment only Lieutenant Harrison was occupying the engineering section, due to her being the only one trained in the functions of the light drive. She had had to double up as the ship's chief engineer and pilot. She didn't mind taking on the responsibility but she would have preferred to have a team of engineers working with her.

She had been in the engineering section most of the morning working on integrating the Magi into the ships own computer. It had not been an easy task. The programming of the Magi was foreign to her and it was made even harder when she learnt the Magi ran using a Personality Transfer Operating System. The concept itself was not foreign to her but she had never seen it in action, adapting the ships own Operating System to work along with the Personality Transfer Operating System was a task she would never want to have to perform again.

However now she was working on a different task, finding the source of the random power fluctuation when the Magi were brought online. The fluctuation occurred when the third and final component was brought online along with the three units but she was unable to find any explanation for it, at first she thought it was an overload in the ships power generator but when she had checked the logs she found there was no evidence to suggest the generator had been overloaded.

Sighing heavily she decided she would investigate it later if the Captain requested it, there fluctuation had caused no short term or long term damage or so she could see. She looked towards the center of Engineering where the Spherical Light Drive Core sat pulsing slightly. She smiled slightly as she looked the core over, it was finally ready and back online, she was still slightly amazed that she was able to get it back online so soon but as soon as the three Eva's were on board the ship the process of getting the Light Drive back online was quick and easy.

_Maybe it was true what the girl said, maybe the Eva's did want us to take them with us._

**Medical Bay**

It had been a few minutes since the sync test had finished and the three children were now in the Medical Bay being looked over by Kira. Whilst the pilot's vital signs could be monitored using the Magi console on the bridge, Kira still wanted to perform a few tests on each of the children to ensure that nothing had happened to them during the test that the Magi Computers hadn't picked up. She finally finished looking over Rei and smiled slightly at the other two children.

"Ok that's all three of you done, you're…"

She was cut off as Misato walked into the Medical Bay wearing a smile on her face as she looked over at the three children. The sync test had gone perfectly which had put Misato in a very good mood for the rest of the day.

"Congratulations you three, you all did great during the test. I'm really proud of you all."

She had slightly bent the truth when she said they did great on the sync test, she knew that if this was a proper sync test at Nerv the scores they would have got would have been considered very low but getting past borderline was a big achievement for them considering all that had happened.

_I won't tell them what their scores were, they need to get some happiness back into their lives._

"So what did we get Misato?"

"Unfortunately Asuka we didn't record the ratios down but you all got around the same."

Misato tried to stop herself from blurting out who got the highest rate, she had only lied slightly that time. Asuka and Shinji had scored around the same with Asuka scoring a 14.5 and Shinji scoring 12.12, Rei however had surprised her with a score of 26.7 They were low scores but Misato was sure that they would improve over time.

"Anyway enough about that, tonight the Captain has requested we all be on the Bridge at about eight, he said he's got something big planned and wants everyone to be up there. I've got to go back into Tokyo 3 to get some more stuff anyway."

Asuka looked dismayed at the news that Misato was going back in for more supplies.

"You're not going back in there for more beer are you?"

"Maybe I am"

"Don't you have enough, I mean you've nearly packed out one of the cargo bays with the stuff."

"That is not true Asuka and you know it, it's only a small section, and anyway it's not just for that. I've also seen a car I want in one of the showrooms."

Asuka looked over at Shinji with a look of disbelief, he too found it rather bizarre that Misato would want to get a car considering where they were.

"Umm Misato, we're on a starship, where exactly are you going to drive."

"It's going to be for when we go down to planets, there's a colony we're heading too after we launch and we'll need it then, don't question my decisions."

With this Misato immediately turned and left the Medical Bay leaving Asuka and Shinji both looking at each other with disbelief.

**Shinji's Quarters**

Shinji lay on his bed listening to his new SDAT, he had picked up a new one the last time he was in Tokyo-3 along with a few tapes to go along with it. On the other side of the room lay a brand new Cello he had also picked up. Scattered on the floor near the Cello were several boxes containing books of sheet music, spare strings, bows and stands. He had decided that he may as well get what he could for it seeing as he may never get another chance to get more.

As the tape ran out on his SDAT he had to decide what he was going to wear for later that night. He had been told it was a special occasion and every one was to wear something formal, he still however had no idea what was going to happen. He walked over to his wardrobe and began looking through the clothes in there. He sighed when he realized he hadn't picked up any formal clothing yet.

_Must have forgot to, I haven't had time yet. I've been transporting my own stuff and also the item I got for Asuka._

He smiled when he thought of what he picked up for Asuka, the last time he was in Tokyo 3 he and Asuka had been in a shopping mall, it was the same day he had picked up his new Cello and SDAT. While Asuka was inside one of her clothing stores he quickly nipped into a jewelry store and picked up a stunning diamond necklace for her. He wasn't sure what possessed him to do it and he wasn't sure exactly when he was going to give it to her.

_Maybe I'll give it to her tonight, she'll like that._

He picked up the necklace out of one of the boxes and looked it over smiling slightly. He jumped slightly when the buzzer on his door went off. Shinji quickly pocketed the necklace and walked over to the door. When he got there he was greeted by Asuka.

"Uhh… Hey Asuka, how are you?"

"Never mind that, I've got something to show you."

She grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him out of his quarters and then into hers.

**Asuka's Quarters**

The two of them entered Asuka's quarters. When they got in Shinji was immediately told to sit down at the desk in the quarters as Asuka told him to wait there. He watched as she walked over to her wardrobe and began rummaging around.

"I didn't think you'd have the intelligence to get something formal for an event like this, so I decided I'd take matters into my own hands."

Shinji looked on confused as she continued rummaging around, eventually she pulled out a black pair of formal trousers along with a white shirt and a black suit jacket.

"So I got this while we were first down there with Rei."

She walked over and handed the suit to him, noticing he was blushing slightly.

"Wow, thanks Asuka I'm really grateful."

_Just wait until he sees the other thing I've got him, he'll love that._

"Well what are you waiting for, try it on."

She stood there looking at him and waiting for him to get up. He just sat there looking at her.

"Umm sure, but do you think you could… give me a bit of privacy first."

"Are you trying to suggest I'm a pervert?"

_Because I could be…._

"No No, nothing like that I'm just… could you…"

_He is so easy to tease…._

"Ok I suppose so, use the bathroom in here, but don't take too long."

Shinji quickly got up and went into the bathroom carrying the suit, as he did so Asuka pulled a gold necklace out of her pocket awaiting Shinji's return.

Around ten minutes later Shinji came back into the room wearing the suit, Asuka had to stop her jaw from dropping at how good he looked in it. She quickly went over to him and commented on how he looked.

"Not bad, not bad at all. I see my work had paid off. There's something missing though."

_Ok here we go, it's now or never._

She walked around to the back of Shinji as he looked at himself in the mirror and took the necklace out, she put the item around Shinji's neck and fastened it, making sure that Shinji could not see her face in the reflection so he could not see how much she was blushing. After she fastened it she turned Shinji around to face her and uttered something to him.

"Perfect."

Shinji was slightly stunned at this act by Asuka, he quickly remembered the gift he had for her and wondered when would be a good time to give it to her. He had no time to think about it as Asuka started speaking again.

"It's nearly time to go, I'm going to go get ready, wait here if you want but don't even think about peeking."

As she walked into the bathroom to get ready Shinji wondered what Asuka was going to get dressed in, he hadn't noticed a dress or anything around and she hadn't carried anything in there with her. He sat down on the bed and looked around Asuka's quarters, she just like him had gathered together a few items for the upcoming journey. He noted a similar SDAT on her desk along with a few tapes. On the far side of the room was a rather large screen TV with a games console set up underneath it.

_So that's what that huge box was she got me to help her carry back here._

He waited a few more moments until Asuka eventually came back out into the room, this time Shinji's jaw did drop. She was wearing a dress similar to the one she tried on back in the shop a few days ago. She walked straight past him and began looking in the mirror.

"So what do you think?"

He got up and moved around to her.

"Not bad, not bad at all. There's something missing though."

He quickly pulled out the necklace before she had a chance to respond and began to place it around her neck, he fastened it and looked her in the mirror, he noticed she was blushing slightly and also smiling. They both looked at each other for a while as she leaned in to kiss him. She quickly kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear

"Thank you"

**Bridge**

Asuka and Shinji were the last two people to emerge onto the bridge of the ship. When they got up there they were surprised at what they saw, the view screen up the front was showing the sunset outside but the entire crew of the ship were there. The Captain was standing by his seat, Mike and Joanne were standing by their stations and Kira was standing next to Misato and Rei. Asuka and Shinji walked onto the bridge and the captain began to speak.

"Ok we're all here. Excellent."

He made his way to the upper section of the bridge and ushered them all into the center of the lower section. He pulled out a data pad and began to speak from it.

"Ok I'm sure most of you are wondering just why you're here. Let me begin by saying it's an honor for me to stand here as captain of this vessel, I know the past two weeks have not been easy for any of us. We've all had to deal with new challenges and new dangers but every one of us has come out of it stronger. It amazes me to see how two groups of people who were light years apart and so different to each other have been able to come together and create what we have. Today will mark the beginning of a new era for us all as we are finally ready to launch the ship.

I'm not one for long speeches so I'll get straight on with it, Joanne prepare the ship for launch."

**Leaving Earth**

The sun was still setting along Earth's horizon as the ship finally began to move from its place. The humming of the ships engines powered up as the ships outboard engines began to light up. Slowly the ship began to rise through the sky and out of the planet's atmosphere. Back on the bridge every single person felt a swell of pride as the ship continued to rise. Eventually it broke out of the atmosphere, they had all seen the sight before the endlessness of space but there was something special in those stars tonight.

Shinji felt Asuka gripping hold of his hand as both smiled at each other before looking back out at everything in front of them. They felt the ship come to a stop and noticed it begin to rotate. To the bottom right of the view screen they could make out the fiery form of the sun.

A few more moments passed until the Captain finally uttered the words to get the ship launched.

"Engage."

**A/N: **Wow a really long chapter this time and this also marks the end of the first part of the story, there will be more but this is the end of the first major story arc. The next arc will take place about a week or so after the launch of the ship. Anyway I hope you all liked the fic up until this point. Thanks for the all the reviews, I haven't quite hit my target in terms of reviews but that's ok.

I'm really happy with how this has gone so far and I've really enjoyed writing it. I only hope all you people who have read it have enjoyed it as much as I have. This doesn't mark the end of the fic but only the ending of the first major arc, I've got loads planned so don't worry I won't be leaving it on this note, there's still loads more mysteries to uncover. Anyway if you liked the chapter leave a review, and if you really liked it tell all your friends to aswel.****

Pre Readers Notes:

I've really enjoyed going through each of the twelve chapters which James has written and I have found myself absorbed into each one. He makes each chapter an original and interesting feat for me to tackle. Also, I feel honoured that he asked me to do the pre reading for him. I am very confident that the fic will continue to be as excellent and capturing and I look forward to continuing my pre reading. In my own opinion the fic has been very successful and this is rightly so as it is such an exceptional piece of work.

S. Percival

**Omake** – If you'd studied your Pink Floyd correctly…

"…but father!"

"I don't care Shinji, destroy the target as ordered."

The tension in the command center had risen as Gendo had given the orders to destroy the target. No one was quite sure as to why Gendo was so intent on destroying this target but he was the commander and was therefore not to be questioned.

After a few moments Shinji's voice came back over the communication system.

"Target destroyed… I hope you're happy."

"Excellent"

Misato had reached boiling point and couldn't take any more.

"Well done Commander, you've just destroyed the Pink Floyd Pig, David Gilmour is going to be very pissed off at us now. Was there any point?"

Gendo simply got up and pulled off the mask revealing…

"Roger Waters!"

"That'll teach them for adding balls to my pig!"

_Yeah yeah, I know Pink Floyd reunited last year for Live 8 with Roger Waters and there's no animosity anymore, but this was just something I couldn't get out of my mind and had to write it down._


	13. Target Practice

**Bridge**

A week had passed since the ship had officially launched from the site of Tokyo 3 and had begun its journey to the Alpha 01 colonies. The journey so far had been fairly uneventful for the ship and its crew. It had been decided that today they would perform another sync test on the children. Misato took up her position at the top of the bridge as she looked over the data being fed to her from the Magi. She smiled proudly as she noticed that the kids had made significant progress since the sync test last week. The three pilot's scores were still nowhere near what they were at their highest, but all three of them had made a lot of progress.

The ship was starting to feel more like home to her as well, they had been together for over three weeks now and although she knew she would miss Tokyo 3 and her old life she was now starting to think of the crew as one big family and she was just happy that she had the three children along with her, the three children which she now thought of as her own kids. After all she was the closest thing to a parent any of them had ever had.

Aside from her duties in looking after the Magi, she had also been spending time with the three children and was noticing a definite change in them all. They still hadn't told her what had happened during third impact but she was noticing they all seemed happier, even Rei seemed to be more positive lately.

Another pleasant surprise for her was the lack of responsibility she had in other sections of the ship, it had been decided that the crew would split the cooking responsibilities, naturally however after she had cooked they had all decided to do it with her to give her more time to learn the Magi systems. It was a nice gesture and although she didn't mind having to cook she immediately took them up on their offer.

She took another look at the sync ratios before reporting them back to the crew.

"I'm pleased to report there's been significant improvement from all three of them. Shinji's ratio has jumped to 29.2, Asuka's has moved up to 34 and Rei's has increased to 41."

"Excellent news, we'll perform another sync test when we've reached the colonies. We'll also test the ships Eva launch mechanism while we're there."

"Ok, how long until we're at the colonies?"

Before the captain got a chance to respond, Joanne turned from her console and cut in.

"At current course and speed, and thanks to my engine modifications we should reach the colonies in another week."

"Yes thanks for that Lieutenant."

The Captain smiled and walked around to the Magi console to observe the data being collected. He still wasn't sure of just what the Magi systems were, he had been told that they were created by a Doctor Naoko Akagi and they were one of the first examples of what is known as the personality transfer operating system. He had been told that the 3 Magi computers were an artificial intelligence based on three aspects of the creator's personality. It was remarkable technology and working with things like this was a reminder of why he signed up to ASPE in the first place.

Before the ship launched from Tokyo 3 he had decided on several approaches he was going to be taking whilst piloting the ship. This was brought on not only by the size of the crew but also due to the fact that they were pretty much alone out there. Even if the Alpha 01 Colonies were intact, they weren't in any position to provide any adequate support to the ship or the people on board. He realized that if they were going to survive they would have to act on their own and not have to adhere to ASPE regulations. Certain ASPE regulations he would keep in mind when making decisions such as that the ship was still a ship of exploration and peace.

He had also decided to ditch the ASPE uniforms instead choosing to wear more casual clothing, his reasoning for this was to allow the two groups of people to mix together easier. John wasn't sure how his superiors at the colonies would take this, if they were in fact there but it was something he had decided to do. He no longer felt like he was just a Captain of a crew but felt as though this place was his home and the people were his family.

Each member of the crew were starting to act as such as well, with each one taking on responsibilities of certain tasks such as cooking for the crew. He was surprised that even the three children had offered to help in that section. John was even more surprised at how good Shinji was at cooking, and was relieved when Shinji offered to cook in place of Misato. He had tried to ensure that tasks were split up evenly across the entire crew, but he was having trouble sorting something for the children, after all they couldn't work in engineering or in any of the ships vital areas, instead he had decided to train them to be proficient with the use of a plasma assault rifle using the ships Training facilities. It would give them something to do instead of sit bored in their quarters and would also provide them with important training should anything happen to the adults in the crew in the future.

A few more moments passed until he decided to give the order to end the sync tests for that day.

"Misato, I think that's about enough for today. Tell them to meet me in the training room, I've got something I want to show them."

Misato nodded and spoke through the comm. system to the three pilots.

"Ok Sync tests are over, good job you three."

**Female Changing Rooms**

Rei walked into the changing rooms and noticed Asuka already inside sitting on one of the benches staring at something in her hand. She promptly walked over to her locker and stripped off out of her plug suit and began getting changed. She heard Asuka sighing slightly and turned to see Asuka putting on a necklace. Asuka turned to face Rei and smiled at her.

She had been puzzled slightly by the change in behavior of Asuka towards since she had woken up on the ship. Instead of acting as she had done towards her Asuka had treated her more as a friend and had even started to cease calling her 'wondergirl' all the time. Asuka had always confused Rei even from the first time they had met. She had been so sure that Asuka had hated her, but she had tried to help as best she could when she saw Asuka was having problems with her Eva yet that just seemed to infuriate her even more. Rei wondered why there was this shift in certain aspects in Asuka. She was still boastful and in some ways arrogant but she wasn't as abusive towards people anymore.

Rei herself had felt happier since being on the ship and especially since the launch, she was still finding it hard to express her emotions and thoughts but she was finding it to be fun being onboard the ship. She still however could not shake off the thoughts of the dream she had a week and a half prior to today. She hadn't told anyone about it yet as she didn't know herself what to think of it, but it seemed so real to her. It wasn't a normal dream, it was as if she was actually there in that other ship.

She finished buttoning up her shirt and realized that Asuka was still in the room with her. She started to speak.

"Rei…"

"Yes Pilot Sohryu."

"I told you not to call me that, call me Asuka instead."

"Ok"

"I was just wonde… well thinking about the time when you told me to open my mind to the Eva and that I slapped you afterwards, I just wanted to…. apologise for it."

After saying this Asuka quickly stood up and walked out the room leaving Rei stood in their blushing slightly.

"Th… Thank you…."

**Captain's Briefing Room**

"_It's been a week since we launched from Tokyo 3 and there is nothing major to report. We performed another sync test today with the children and Misato has informed me the scores have increased significantly from the last test. It's good to hear that they're improving. Misato has mentioned that knowing they're improving might restore some confidence in them. I still have no intention of using the three units unless we have no other choice._

_We are still in the process of fine tuning certain sections of the ship including the weapons training room. The crew and I have decided, however to give this task to the three children. The room is based on experimental holographic technology, it is not dissimilar to the weapons training facilities within the academy except it has been relegated to a smaller room. The children are to test out the various programs for the room and to report any errors. Misato was happy with the idea thinking that it would allow the children to be able to defend themselves should they come up against any enemies in the future._

_I have also sent a message out to the ASPE HQ on the Alpha 01 Colony, but I have not received any response as of yet. We are heading there now just on the off chance that the colony is still intact but as it is it seems more likely that whatever attacked us has also attacked the colonies as well. It is our hope that the colonies still exist, as we have salvaged several parts of the ship that attacked us, if they do still exist then we can use the science facilities there to learn more about our enemy._

_Kira has also finished studying the liquid we found within NERV headquarters, as suspected it was LCL. However when salvaging the enemy vessel we also found traces of LCL within it. It would seem there is some connection between our enemy and LCL. At first we thought it might be a return of the Angels Misato told us about, but these are too technological in nature and all the angels were destroyed so we are once again at a dead end. Without access to more dedicated Science facilities we may never learn what keeps attacking us."_

John finished recording the log and picked up a datapad on his desk. It was the results of the tests on the LCL found in the enemy vessel compared with that of the LCL found in NERV. No one was actually sure of what the LCL was, John knew it was used in the Eva's to allow the pilots to be able to sync with the Eva's. There was a huge pool of the stuff in Nerv from where the Angel Lillith used to be.

_The LCL is produced by Lillith, if that's the case then why do these other people seem to have it? Are they related to Lillith? Or have they been here before?_

There were still many unanswered questions running through his mind, everything seemed to be linked somehow. His crew and Misato's people were linked by the fact that they were all human. Misato's people and the attackers were linked by the LCL yet it was with his people these attackers seemed to have a vendetta.

_It doesn't make any sense, what do they have against us?_

**ASPE Alpha 01 Colony HQ**

It had been several weeks since all communication with Earth was lost. Since then, repeated attempts had been made to contact the planet and its inhabitants but all to no-avail. Three colony ships had arrived shortly after the loss of communication but everyone on board had nothing to report as regards to the situation.

To make matters even stranger, the ASPE Headquarters had just received a message from what is suspected to be ASPE's flagship and if they were to believe what was said in the message then Earth was no more.

ASPE's HQ on Alpha 01 did not amount to much, the colony itself was a civilian colony and therefore not much ASPE interference was needed aside from governing the colony and for contact with Earth. In total there were just fewer than three hundred ASPE personnel staying in the colony including an Admiral.

The entire colony itself only held around four thousand people including the ASPE personnel, the majority of these were families and people who wanted to leave what was becoming an overcrowded planet. The planet was located in what was known as the Hideaki Star System. It was the first planet to use new Terraforming technology and although it was mainly a civilian colony, many of ASPE's top scientists resided there.

The ASPE HQ was a rather large building towards the center of the city. It was a huge metallic looking building with the ASPE insignia on the front. Towards the back of it was a huge landing and docking area for various ships and shuttles to land on. At this moment in time a research shuttle was currently landing on it containing the Admiral and several other ASPE Officers. They had been out that day to research the effects of the terraforming process on the planet however when news got to the Admiral of a message from ASPE's flagship the research was immediately postponed and they came back to the headquarters. The shuttle finally came in to land and out stepped the Admiral who was immediately greeted by one of the scientists waiting for the shuttle to land.

"Admiral Takahashi welcome back."

"Thank you Doctor, I believe you received a communication with an ASPE signature."

"Yes sir, we believe it was from the B Class."

"The B-Class?"

"Yes sir, the sender claimed to be Captain Frakes stating that they would be arriving at the colony in a weeks time."

"And was it definitely him?"

"We are unsure, it was a written log so there was no audio or visual to confirm it, however the communication carried an ASPE Data signature identical to that of the B-Class."

"And did he say anything else?"

"It mentioned a disaster on Earth and having to launch early, he said he would explain everything when the ship arrives at the colony."

"When was it sent?"

"The date signature said it was sent a day ago, however we only just received it an hour ago, we have not yet sent a message back as we were waiting for your instructions."

"Ok good, send a message back saying we'll be expecting them. Then have the colony be put on alert status, perform long ranch scans every couple of hours and have the results sent to me in my office. Try to establish where the ship will be now and the course it is most likely to take. We have already lost contact with Earth and then the B-Class appears out of nowhere, something here doesn't add up and I want everyone on full alert."

"Yes Sir"

The Scientist left the Admiral and headed off towards the command center of the complex as the Admiral continued walking towards his office. So far he had been able to keep the news of losing contact with Earth to a minimum. So far only he and a few of the higher ranking people within the complex knew about it, that would all change soon if this was in fact the captain and his crew.

He could only guess what the news of having lost contact with Earth would do to the people in the colony. No one had found out just why contact was lost, he had considered sending a colony ship back to scout it out but decided against it fearing that instead of contact being lost, Earth itself might have been lost. If this was true then what would that mean for ASPE and the colony. He had been with ASPE for thirty years and was chosen as head of the Hideaki project when it started in the Year 2000. How would everyone on the planet react to learn that they were the last living humans and that their proper home was now gone.

He eventually reached his office and sat down behind his desk looking through the reports that had been forwarded to him. At the top of the list was the message from the B-Class. It was a short message not really giving anything away.

'_Unable to send out Audio or Video communication, we are en-route to the colonies now. There was an incident with Earth, we will explain when we arrive in a week's time. It is complicated. Captain John Frakes'_

He read the message over and over again unsure whether to believe it was the B-Class., and what they meant by an incident on Earth. A sense of dread came over him as he read it one more time.

_Just what do you mean by an incident… what is going on out there?_

**Weapons Training Room**

The training room was different than what Shinji expected. It was a large rectangular room with various lockers towards the front containing a range of rifles and pistols. Shinji watched as Asuka walked over and pulled out a large assault rifle type weapon.

"I think this is the phase rifle, what do you think Shinji."

She aimed the rifle at various areas of the room pulling the trigger each time. Shinji stood there and laughed.

"Very nice, it suits you."

"You really think so?"

He nodded and walked over to the weapons lockers, examing the different types of weaponry before opting for a phase rifle similar to Asuka's. He held it slightly and aimed it at one of the walls similar to how Asuka did, trying to get a feel for the weapon.

"So what do we do now?"

Rei emerged from the far end of the weapons lockers with a large sniper rifle, she attached the scope to it and looked through towards the far end of the room. She placed the rifle down and walked over to Asuka and Shinji and picked up a Phase Rifle of her own.

"I believe we use the console by the door to select a program and a difficulty."

Asuka walked over to the console and tapped one of the buttons on it, she wasn't sure what any of the options meant but picked a random option on the list and left it at the default difficulty. As she was about to start the program the lights within the room went out plunging it into darkness.

"Stupid ship, that's the 12th time that's happened in the past week."

Asuka couldn't see it but both Shinji and Rei nodded in agreement with her.

"It is most peculiar, perhaps they are having some problems on…"

Rei was cut off by the lights coming back on and the program beginning to load. This time the lights began to dim, however this was followed by the computers voice telling them to step into the three sections in the center of the room. They stepped into three circular areas, as they did so the walls turned black, the only light coming from the circular section. A sphere rose from the floor and began to move slowly around the room.

Asuka looked at it and nodded understanding what was to be done.

"I think we have to shoot that thing moving around the room. It's just like a video game, which means naturally I'm going to win."

She looked down and noticed a number next to her circular section at this point it was at 0.

"Ok so, shall we start?"

She didn't even finish her sentence before firing a shot at the sphere, as she did so the sphere glowed red as she noticed her score go down to -1

"Hey, what the hell? Stupid thing..."

Shinji laughed from his section.

"Asuka look next to the score, there's a light when that turns green I think we start trying to hit it."

"Ok, well you'd better take advantage of your head start against me because I'm going to kick both your asses."

The lights turned green and they all began trying to hit the sphere that was moving very rapidly around the room.

**Ten Minutes Later**

After ten minutes the sphere finally went back into the ground as the three children looked at each other exhausted from the exercise. Asuka however was looking very proud of herself as she celebrated the fact that she had got the highest score.

"Well that was good exercise but I would have preferred more of a chall…"

At that moment the entire room shook and the Captain's voice came in over the communications system.

"_All pilots report to the Eva Units, we have an emergency situation."_

**Bridge**

"Lieutenant, where did it come from?"

"I don't know Captain, it just dropped out of some type of light funnel near to here. We had no way of detecting it."

"Commander, put our shields up and ready our weapons. Try to establish contact with the vessel first."

John glanced up at the screen, directly in front of the ship was a huge spherical object, an orange mist drifting from it.

"Captain they're not resp..."

The sphere sent out a green blast that rocked the ship."

"Ready the phase cannons."

The ship rocked as the enemy fired out another blast.

"Captain our shields are being drained rapidly."

"Return fire."

A red phaser blast was sent out from the ship, aimed straight towards the sphere shaped enemy. As it hit some sort of shield appeared and deflect the blast into space. Misato watched in pure shock.

"Oh god no."

John stood up and dashed forward.

"What the hell was that? It just deflected out shot."

Misato turned pale as she gave the answer.

"Captain…. It's… it's an A.T. Field."

"An A.T. field? Is it an Angel?"

"The Magi are saying its not an Angel, but that's definitely an A.T. field"

"What do you recommend?"

"We don't have any choice, we're going to have to send out the Evas."

"Are you sure about that Misato?"

"The weapons on the ship aren't powerful enough to break through the A.T. Fields only the Eva's have that capability."

"Are they ready for it?"

"They're able to pilot, their sync scores earlier on confirmed that."

"Ok then, we don't have any choice."

John sat back down in the captain's chair and immediately sent through a message to the three pilots.

"All pilots report to the Eva Units, we have an emergency situation."

**  
Approaching Enemy**

"_Ok you three listen up, the objective is to take out that sphere. We're going to undock the Eva's and from there you are to approach the object and attempt to destroy it. We will provide support in the ship and try to create a diversion in order for you to get over there. The vessel is protected by some form of A.T. Field and has some sort of beam attack so watch out for that. Try to attack it from long range if possible."_

The three pilots responded to Misato's instructions as the Eva launch sequence began. Three separate sections of the ship began opening up revealing the three Eva's. Eva Unit 0 was the first to be undocked and it began to move towards its target. This was closely followed by Unit 1 and then finally Unit 2.

"_Your assault rifles have been modified to use the same type of phaser blasts used on the ship. However you still have access to your progressive knives, good luck."_

The three Units converged in a triangle formation with Unit 1 taking the point and beginning to move towards the object. They eventually stopped moving towards them. Unit 1 stayed in position as Units 0 and 2 moved around to the other sides of the Sphere.

"Ok, you two ready?"

Shinji waited for a response from Asuka and Rei, eventually it came and he raised his rifle and aimed it squarely at the sphere.

"NOW!"

He fired the trigger along with the over two units each one sending a blast directly at the sphere. Each blast just bounced off the Spheres A.T. Field.

_Damnit_

"Asuka, Rei, cover me, I'm going to move in closer."

He started to move in closer when he heard a scream from over the comm. signal. He looked to his right and noticed the Sphere had some sort of green pulse being sent out and enveloping Asuka.

_You bastards, I'm not letting you hurt Asuka._

He felt rage building up in him as he began to move in towards the sphere, his progressive knife at the ready. He quickly dodged another beam being sent out from the sphere as he swung his knife towards its hull. As he did so LCL sprayed out of the hull messing up his view.

"Rei, keep firing at it from range."

"Yes"

Rei readied herself and fired another shot at the Sphere. This time it broke through the A.T. Field and hit it right next to where Shinji had just stuck his knife in. He looked to his right and noticed Asuka was now free and was also moving towards the sphere with her knife at the ready.

_Good she's ok, time to take this bastard out._..


	14. Unusual Readings

**Continuation**

Another beam shot out from the sphere but Asuka managed to dodge it in the Eva. She glanced over towards the other two Units, and she noticed they were now firing at the Sphere. She maneuvered the Eva towards Shinji and Rei and began firing at the same area. She fired a few short bursts and then Misato's voice came in over the comm. system.

"_You three start moving back towards the ship, the Sphere's AT field is down. We'll cover you."_

Asuka began to move the Eva back towards the ship as she noticed Shinji and Rei doing the same. She kept her weapon trained on the ever widening gap in the sphere and every so often would fire off a few bursts. Overhead she noticed the huge form of the ship flying over and getting three direct blasts in on the Sphere, causing even more damage. Another green beam shot past her that she barely dodged and she fired off more shots.

_You're not getting me with that again, time to show them all why I'm the greatest._

The sphere shot out another series of beams trying to target the three Units, but they were able to dodge out the way with ease. The ship kept hovering and barraging the Sphere with more blasts as the pilots continued firing rapidly, causing serious damage to the Sphere. As she dodged another attack from the Sphere she heard Rei's voice coming over the intercom.

"_Pilot Sohryu, something has been ejected near to your side of the Sphere."_

"Ok got it."

She turned to see what Rei was talking about, a small Pyramid object had been ejected from the Sphere. She began to chase after the object, trying to attack it but it was too fast for her. The object eventually came to a halt and spun round to face her.

_Got you now_

She aimed her rifle at it but was blinded by a white light emanating from its tip. She fired a few blind shots until eventually the light subsided and the object was gone. She turned around to see Rei firing off the final few shots that destroyed what was left of the Sphere. The Sphere exploded sending debris flying everywhere as Asuka smiled to herself.

_I knew they stood no chance against us._

**Briefing Room**

Not long after the pilots had got back on board the ship they had all been called into the briefing room along with the rest of the crew. They had not even had the chance to change out of their Plugsuits or take a shower. Shinji sat in one of the seats near to the far end of the table uncomfortably, the taste of LCL lingering in his mouth. Rei and Asuka were sat next on either side of him. On the other side of the table the three ASPE crew members sat facing towards the Captain and Misato and a screen currently displaying data relating to the battle that had just been fought. The Captain spoke first.

"First of all I'd like to say congratulations to our three pilots for a job well done. You three have done a good thing today."

Shinji felt himself go slightly red with the unexpected praise, to his left he could see Asuka beaming with pride.

_She looks really beautiful when she's happy._

"Now onto other matters, it would appear that the ship that attacked us is indeed related to the same ship that attacked us in Tokyo 3 and of course the same ship that attacked the ASPE Base. As you will have undoubtedly seen the ship seems to have some sort of A.T. Field that cannot be penetrated by our weapons, hence why we had to use the Eva Units. The ship also seems to contain some other smaller vessel which could be their equivalent to our shuttlecrafts, however thanks to Pilot Sohryu's quick thinking in pursuing the vessel we do actually have some data regarding it."

Misato tapped a button on a datapad in front of her and began speaking.

"Shortly after the smaller pyramid vessel launched from the Sphere, Asuka gave chase but was unable to target the vessel due to its speed and agile movement. When it finally stopped it blinded her with some sort of light and then promptly disappeared."

Asuka nodded at Misato, who then continued.

"However, the Magi Systems detected that the smaller vessel was then swallowed up into a Sea of Dirac. It was only for a brief moment that the Dirac Sea appeared on the sensors, if it wasn't for Asuka being where she was we would not have detected it at all."

Asuka glanced around proud of her effort, she looked and saw Shinji frowning slightly at the mention of a Sea of Dirac. After all it had been Shinji who was pulled into a Dirac Sea by the 12th Angel.

She looked over the table towards Joanne who had just begun to speak.

"What exactly is a Sea of Dirac?"

"We're not entirely sure, the first time Nerv encountered one was when the 12th Angel attacked and pulled Unit 1 into itself. The 12th Angel was made up of a Sea of Dirac. The second time we encountered one was when Nerv's Nevada branch disappeared, it was believed it got pulled into a Sea of Dirac. It is believed the Sea of Dirac is a portal of void into another dimension."

"So what you're saying is these invaders are from another dimension?"

"It's possible, however it seems more likely they're using the Dirac Sea for transportation."

Everyone in the room looked at each other in confusion. Misato pressed another button on the datapad and the Captain began speaking this time.

"What we believe is that these invaders are opening a Sea of Dirac at two ends of the galaxy and using them as a sort of transportation conduit of sorts. We were unable to detect the arrivals of the ships each time they attacked because they appeared without any warning. If they have access to some kind of technology that allows them to open up funnels to any section of the galaxy it'd explain why they can do that."

Mike spoke this time.

"What about the 12th Angel, what happened when Unit 1 was pulled into its body?"

Everyone in the room looked at Shinji, who then began to speak.

"Well I uhh… I don't remember much about it, but it was just an infinite space of nothingness."

Misato nodded and then spoke again.

"What we have to remember though is that the Dirac Sea then was the body of the Angel itself. The Dirac Sea we witnessed appears to have been artificially produced."

Joanne then proceeded to ask a question.

"If this is what we're looking at is there anything we can do to detect when one is opened, sort of an early warning system?"

The Captain immediately replied.

"That's what I'm hoping we'll find out, you and the Commander are to salvage parts of that sphere and bring it back to study. We need to learn more about what we're dealing with. At least a quarter of the Sphere is still intact, if we can find any systems or devices on the vessel it may give us a better indication. The Magi also has some data on the Dirac Sea Phenomenon, you may find it of use. We cannot afford to hang around this area, if our theory about this is correct then they know where we are and could send backup at any time. That's all for now, salvage what you can and return. You may all leave."

"Yes Sir"

**Unknown Ship**

The three circling spheres glowed brighter than they had before. Towards the center a new object had appeared. It was a strange diamond formation, smaller than the spheres but was glowing bright red. At the head of the room the seat was currently unoccupied, instead it's owner was stood at the far side of the room looking through a window out over a huge space-born city structure. The door to the room opened and another man walked through with a datapad in his hand. He walked over to where the other man was standing and handed it to him.

"Excellent, the three Units have been awakened and are capable of repelling the first's attacks."

He smiled slightly and looked back out at the huge structure,

"It's amazing don't you think, how far we have came since all those years ago when we first planted those seeds, and soon the day will come when we will be able to share the benefits of our success with the rest of our people."

"Yes sir, however I must ask how do you plan to open the gateway when not all of the seeds are activated?"

"We have all we need, the first planet activated the seeds when they accepted help from those opposing us. The Second Planet activated the seeds and all went as planned, they were harvested into the proverbial Promised Land. The third planet did not activate the seeds but the survivors are now holding a key element to opening the gateway."

"You mean the young girl?"

"Yes, she was created from the seeds on the second planet and she is what we need to begin the process. The gateway to Aluka shall open once more and she is the key."

"How are we going to use her though?"

"Do not worry about that, we cannot do much from here but those who oppose us will do the rest, little do they know that by interfering they've just delayed the inevitable. We have waited millennia for this, a while longer will not hurt."

"Understood"

**Starship Corridor**

Misato was dashing through the corridor desperately trying to catch the three children up, she still hadn't fully memorized the layout of the ship abut was sure the Pilot changing rooms were down this way. She turned a corner and saw a map up on the wall, she quickly glanced at it trying to find the way to the changing rooms and then Shinji turned the corner listening to his SDAT. He glanced up and pulled out one headphone.

"Uhh Misato… are you looking for something?"

She jumped and tried to hide the map out of view, it would have been embarrassing for her if Shinji found out she hadn't memorized the layout yet.

"Me... oh nothing…. Actually I was looking for you and Asuka… and Rei."

"Well they're still getting changed I think, why what did you want to talk to us about?"

"Well it was about today actually, I just wanted to say how proud I am of you three for defending the ship like that and for piloting again, you all did a great thing today."

Shinji looked up at Misato and turned slightly red from the praise, he turned even redder when Misato pulled him into a hug and whispered into his ear.

"You three are like my children and I'm proud of how you all acted today."

"Th… Thank you Misato."

She let him out of the hug and watched him walk past her, she waited until he was out of view and turned back to the map.

_Ok now… where the hell are the changing rooms?_

"By the way Misato… they're round the corner and first door on the right."

She turned and saw Shinji grinning at her from round the corner and felt herself glowing red with embarrassment.

"Shut up, leave me alone!"

With that she stormed off towards the locked rooms leaving Shinji laughing to himself.

**Female Changing Rooms**

Rei emerged from the showers and began to get dressed, as she did so she noticed Asuka was pre occupied with the necklace again. This puzzled Rei somewhat, she found it strange how people could become so entranced with such a simple item. Asuka turned to see Rei looking at her and quickly put the necklace on and walked over to where Rei was.

"Congratulations!"

Rei replied in a rather puzzled manner.

"Thank you, but I do not understand what you are congratulating me on."

"You got the final shot that destroyed that sphere, although of course if I wasn't preoccupied with that other item it would have been me getting the final shot."

The words weren't spoken with the usual venom Asuka would have spoke with in the past, instead they were spoken in a more friendly and casual manner.

"I see, Pil… Asuka. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure"

"I was wondering why you seem so pre-occupied with that necklace you are wearing?"

Asuka stepped back rather shocked.

"Well I… You see it was… it was a special gift from someone…"

"I see"

Asuka breathed a sigh of relief, she wasn't ready to tell anyone how she and Shinji had traded gifts before the ships launch and she certainly wasn't ready to tell anyone about her feelings for Shinji. She had to make sure that Shinji felt the same way first.

"Rei... what are you doing tonight?"

"I have no plans."

"You do now, you and Shinji are coming to my quarters for a celebration."

"A Celebration… of what?"

"Of our great victory, something like that needs to be celebrated. Besides I also have a big screen TV in my Quarters."

Rei was confused by this, how was Asuka able to get such a thing in her quarters?

"How were you able to acquire such an item?"

"I got it before we left Tokyo 3, Shinji has his uses it would seem."

She smiled at Rei and went to walk out of the room.

**Shuttlebay**

The shuttlecraft arrived back in the bay and Mike stepped out and greeted the Captain who walked around to the back to help remove some of the salvaged items.

"So what did you and Joanne find?"

"Well we weren't able to find much, we explored the section of the Sphere still intact but it appears to be mainly holding cells. We were however able to find components of some sort of armour in one of the cells. We also picked up what we suspect to be parts of computer systems."

"Good, anything else?"

"We also found vast quantities of LCL, there were huge tanks of the stuff onboard the Sphere, what purpose it serves I don't know but it was there nonetheless."

"Ok good work, we'll get out of here and start examining the components tomorrow."

He moved around into the Shuttle and began to move some of the pieces outside into the main area of the bay. Once inside the shuttle, the stench of LCL became almost unbearable, most of the components were covered in the orange liquid. All of the equipment was not functioning and LCL was dripping out of pipes connected to some of the components. He reached in and pulled out another part and was shocked at what he saw. It appeared to be a torso of some sort, but it was more machine like than anything he had seen. He pulled it out and noted that there were several wounded sections on the armour leaking LCL. The thing that struck him the most about it was how similar it was to the plugsuits the children wore, it was almost as if it was a plugsuit for a mechanical being.

"Commander, have you seen this?"

"What is it Captain?"

"The armored part you found, it appears to be some sort of plugsuit, inform Kira about this and have her examine it tomorrow. I'll be in my quarters."

"Yes sir."

**ASPE Alpha 01 Colony HQ**

Admiral Takahashi looked out from his office over the colony. It had been several hours since he had gave the order to increase security in the colony due to the contact with the B Class ship. The sun was nearly setting over the colony and he could see the various security teams scanning over the city, their spotlights scanning the wilderness outside the cities safe haven.

The citizens had been warned not to wander outside of the city too far due to the ferocious wildlife on the planet. The lifeforms there were rare but tended to hunt in packs, although it had been some time since a group was spotted near the city. This however was the least of the Admirals troubles, he had received yet another report of activity since the notice about the B Class, one of his scout shuttles had been attacked and its cargo had been stolen. The crew onboard the shuttle had been knocked unconscious and then their ship had been ransacked with no sign of the invaders.

_That's all I need, space pirates… and until a few hours ago we thought we were the only race out there._

He did not have the resources to defend against a sudden attack, the security shuttles were only made for scouting on the ground and the security turrets weren't to be ready until they got another shipment of materials from Earth and that was never going to happen now. His only hope was the arrival of the B Class, but surely they wouldn't be able to defend the colony forever.

_Guess all I have is hope, let's just see what Captain Frakes has to say when he arrives here._

**Rei's Quarters**

Rei found herself lying on her bed going back over her discussion with Asuka. This was the first time Asuka had ever acted with any sincerity towards the blue haired pilot and it was quite confusing for her. She had also found herself going back over her dream from two weeks ago. The emergence of the Sphere had brought it back into the front of her mind, it had been a Sphere she had seen on the console in that room during the dream, also much of the Spheres exterior and hull looked similar to the walls and corridors of the ship in her dreams.

Her dreams since then had not been as graphic, however she had been having recurring dreams where she was in a darkened room. Outside was what seemed to be a huge space-born city. What confused her the most was that in the center of this room were three spheres circling some sort of object, the dream always ended when she reached out to take this object. This was all she could remember from the dream, that and one word.

_Aluka…._

**Shinji's Quarters**

Shinji let his hand fall back down by his side as he finished the last few bars on his Cello piece. He placed the bow on his desk and smiled at himself, since arriving he had not had any time to practice but he was surprised that he was able to pick it back up straight away. He placed it back in the corner and looked down at the pile of music books he had taken from the various music stores. He had felt a bit guilty at first about taking all the stuff without paying but he quickly reminded himself that no one else was there and that it wasn't as if they would be worth anything if anyone did come back.

He glanced over at his SDAT and decided to listen to a bit of music for a while, as opposed to playing it. He was about to pick it up when he heard his door beep. He went over to answer it and noticed Asuka standing there smiling at him.

"Hey Asuka."

"Hi Shinji, what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing why?"

"You're doing something now, you're coming to my quarters to celebrate."

His face turned red when Asuka mentioned this, she immediately noticed and frowned.

"Not like that you pervert, wondergirl is coming as well. It's to celebrate our victory."

"Oh right."

"You sound disappointed."

"No… Ye….. That's not fair."

"You really are easy to tease aren't you? Before you ask, I decided on my quarters because I've got the Big TV and games console in there."

Shinji groaned at the memory of the big screen TV. Asuka had made him carry it all the way from Tokyo 3 to the Ship and then set it up in her room. Only to send him back to Tokyo 3 to get the right cables and the games console.

"Ok I'll be there."

"Good, I'll see you shortly then."

She winked at him and turned and walked back into her own quarters. Shinji walked back over to his bed and sat down, wishing he had done a similar thing to Asuka and gotten a TV in his quarters to pass the time. He glanced outside at the stars and could make out the debris of the Sphere floating around in the distance. It was unusual, he didn't feel in anyway apprehensive about getting inside the Eva again, instead he felt a sense of pride inside him.

This feeling was only elevated when he was praised by the Captain and Misato for doing a good job. Misato was the closest thing he had to a mother and although she had her faults he thought of her as the only family member he truly had, and it was because of people like her, Asuka and Rei that he decided to pilot the Eva again.

_Asuka seems to be a lot happier lately and at least now she's not always calling me an idiot._

He held the present Asuka had given him in his hand and looked at it for a while, he had not spoken to Asuka about it since although he did feel strongly for her, he was just waiting for the right moment. Even though they were getting on better he was still scared of being rejected by her if she didn't feel the same.

_I'll just have to tell her when it's the right time…_

He quickly sat up as the lights in his room began to flicker and dim, he sat there in darkness for a whole minute until they eventually came back on.

_Strange, that's twice today the lights have done that._

He looked back outside at the stars as the ship began to move away from the debris of the Sphere. His stomach growled at him as he got up, it was his turn to cook for the crew again. He was sure someone was switching the schedule around. He had agreed to cook for Misato but he could have sworn that Asuka hadn't cooked at all in the past few days and he was sure that tonight was supposed to be her turn.

_Oh well, at least its something I enjoy._

A/N: Well there you have it, the continuation of the Spheres attack on the ship and the Evas in action. Quick note here about the Eva's, they run due to a slight armour modification based on blueprints in NERV and experimental technology. Just assume that Nerv expected an Angel to appear in space and the Evas to have to get sent up there, however the technology was not available for use until around the time of the 17th Angel, and of course by that time it was all over.

Moving away from the story, I've taken it upon myself to give the fics website a complete overhaul. To visit it click on my profile and then my homepage. On there you'll find out a bit more about ASPE and the Ship. I'm also working on Character Bio's. If you do visit it don't forget to send me a message to tell me what you think. Anyway that's about it, please review.


	15. Takeover

**Bridge**

The ship was now back on course towards the colonies after being delayed due to the attack from the Sphere the day before. As a result of having to use the Eva's, the Captain decided it would be best to run another sync test just to ensure there were no problems when reconnecting the Eva's to the docking clamps. They were currently forty five minutes into the test and he noted that the Sync ratios of the three pilots had gone up significantly since yesterday as he peered at the console. Misato looked at the three pilot's faces on the console, each of them looked to be deep in concentration as the test went on.

"There has been a big increase in the sync ratio, is this normal?"

"It can be, the reason they were so low before yesterday was probably due to a lack of confidence and apprehension at having to pilot again, now that they've all been in action again they're probably more sure of themselves."

"Good, I'm just hoping we won't be forced to use the Evangelions again."

Misato nodded in agreement, using the Evangelions was supposed to be a last resort. They did not want to get into the habit of using them for every battle. Even though they both didn't want to use the Evangelions and especially not put the pilots at risk, they both had the feeling that they would have to call upon the Eva's again in the future. Misato glanced at the timer on the console and then over at the current Sync Ratios. Asuka had a current sync ratio of 46, Shinji's had jumped up to 42 and Rei was still in the lead with a ratio of 53

John glanced at the results and made another observation about them.

"Asuka and Shinji's ratio seems to be around the same in of the tests we've ran so there, they even seem to be increasing at similar rates."

Misato giggled slightly at hearing this, she had noticed it as well, and was preparing to use it in the future to tease them both with. She had still not given up hope on the two of them getting together.

"Oh yes I've noticed, soon they'll be asking you if they can share a room."

"I didn't realize they were going out together."

"Oh they're not yet, but with a bit of steering in the right direction from their ever loving guardian they will be."

"Do you really think it's a wise idea to get involved? I mean what if they don't like each other?"

"Oh they do, they're just too scared to admit it, they've liked each other for ages but with a bit of nudging from me I'll make sure everything goes smoothly."

"I hope you know what you're doing."

John laughed slightly and moved to the front of the bridge.

"Hmm that's odd."

"What is?"

"The ship's sensors are picking up a ship directly in front of us, can you switch the viewscreen to front view for me?"

"Sure thing, let me just inform the pilots."

She held down the comm. button on the console and spoke through to the pilots.

"Ok you three, standby for a few minutes, the test should be ending soon."

Shinji was the first to respond  
"_Ok Misato"_

This was shortly followed by Asuka

"_Sure thing"_

Then finally by Rei_  
"Yes"_

Misato nodded towards the Captain who was now facing the view screen. The screen changed from the three Magi Logo's to the front view of the Ship. Directly in front a small Ship could be seen, it was made up of a long rectangular section with two cylinders on either side John assumed they must have been the ships thrusters or engines. He stepped over to the tactical console and zoomed in on the other ship.

_That's strange, it looks as if it's been pieced together from salvaged components._

Misato immediately chimed in from the back.

"John, it's trying to contact us."

"Put it through."

The sound of static filled the bridge for a short while, until it eventually filtered out and John started to speak.

"Hello there, this is Captain John Frakes, can we assist you in any way?"

_"You have entered our space, what is your purpose here?"_

"We did not realize that this was anybodies space, our apologies, but we're just trying to get to our colony."

"_Your colony is in our space"_

"I'm sorry but the colonies were established over fifteen years ago, there were no life signs nearby when they were established, how can they be in your space?"

"_Our space is wherever our ship is, you will hand over all of your cargo, then you will lead us to your colony where we will take every last thing there, you have a minute to comply."_

The communication cut out as Misato and John looked at each other anxiously, John immediately sent out a communication.

"Mike and Joanne to the bridge, we have an emergency situation up here."

He paused for a moment as a response from them both came through, he then sent out another communication.

"Kira stand by in one of the cargo bays, we might be getting boarded."

"_Yes Sir"_

"Misato, will the Children be safe in the entry plugs?"

"Safest place for them if anything attacks."

"Good, halt the test but don't eject the plugs."

"Right"

A few moments later both Mike and Joanne came onto the bridge and took up positions at the console at the front.

"They're contacting us again."

_"We have detected your weapons have powered up, your choice is clear. Prepare to be boarded."_

The ship began moving towards them as the B Class fired its Phase cannons. Mike looked at the tactical display.

"Direct hit, shields partially drained."

A blue beam shot out from the scavenger's vessel and stopped the B Class from moving. Joanne shouted back from her console.

"Captain, it's some type of Tractor Beam, they're trying to hack into the computer system."

"Lock out weapons and shields."

"Done, we're safe for now."

"Good, try to stop that tractor…."

"Sir..?"

Joanne spun round and noticed Mike was slumped over his console, in the center of the bridge near the Captains Chair John had also collapsed. Towards the back, Misato was still standing.

"What just happened?"

"I'm looking… Oh no… they weren't going for shields and weapons, they were hacking into the environmental controls they were trying to put us to sl…"

The final two people on the Bridge fell victim to the Scavengers attack and slumped to the floor, leaving the Bridge in silence.

**Cargo Bay/Unit 00 Storage**

Kira was standing by in the cargo bay, the reason for this was that the children were the highest priority on the ship, starting with Rei. The cargo bay's also allowed access to the ships maintenance shafts for emergencies, if something was to happen she would be able to move from area to area hopefully unnoticed.

She glanced down at the console located near Unit 00's entry plug and could see Rei was sat with her eyes closed. Rei was Kira's primary concern out of all three of the children, during Rei's last check up she had noticed some unusual activity in Rei's brain, but could not put it down to anything. She stumbled a bit as the ship rocked slightly, this continued for a short while until eventually all was silent.

Pulling out her comm. device she sent a message through to the bridge.

"Captain, what's going on up there?"

She received no response and waited a few more moments until repeating the message. Again she received no response, she quickly dashed over to the door out of the cargo bay to view the ships status.

_All systems are fine, what's going on up there?_

She was about to send out another message when she felt her eyes begin to get heavy, she lent against the wall to try and orientate herself but it was no use, she finally fell victim to the Scavengers Attack.

**Shuttle Bay**

The scavenger ship had docked itself with the shuttle bays entry mechanism, a ramp lead from the scavenger's cargo bay directly inside the shuttle bay. Four people walked down the ramp into the shuttle bay, all of them male. Each of them was armed with assault rifles and a large knife. As they walked down the ramp the one leading them turned to another and spoke.

"Valkris, set the environmental controls back to normal in all area's and shut off the lights, we don't want any surprises."

"Gladly"

The shuttle bay was plunged into darkness with only the flashing emergency lights and the beam of the assault rifles torches providing any illumination. They silently moved further into the bay and surrounded one of the shuttles, the leader spoke again.

"We will raid their cargo bays, then we will take their shuttles. We should be able to make a good profit from the sale of these, what we don't sell we can strip down and use for components."

The four of them moved quickly past the shuttlecraft and towards the shuttle bay door, Valkris moved towards the door and set a device on it, he tapped a few buttons on the device and the door opened silently. He pulled the device back off and the four of them stepped out into the corridor. The leader spoke once again

"Torel, B'Etor, we will start off in the cargo bays and see what they have on offer here. Valkris reroute the environmental controls, keep the people on the bridge silent for as long as we can."

All three of the others spoke in unison.

"Yes, Captain Korax"

With that, the four of them started moving down the corridor towards the medical bay.

**Unit 00 Entry Plug**

Rei opened her eyes and glanced down at the console in the entry plug, it has been over twenty minutes since Misato had told them to standby. By Rei's calculations the sync test should be over by now and the lack of communication from Misato troubled her slightly. She changed the view of the entry plug to the entire cargo bay and noticed by the door the lying form of the Medical Officer.

_This is most unusual._

Rei was about to eject the plug when she noticed the door's to the cargo bay opening up, she watched as four people unfamiliar to her stepped through. One of them glanced down at the Medical Officer and spoke.

"_Look at what we have here, we could have some fun with this one, probably make a good sale on her too."_

"_Put her down Torel, we don't deal in selling people… yet"_

"_Yes Sir"_

Rei continued watching as the lights in the cargo bay were shut off, she switched the entry plugs viewing controls to night vision mode and watched at the four people moved around the bay taking notes of the different pieces of cargo inside.

_They must have immobilized the crew somehow, I must inform Ikari and Sohryu._

Glancing down at the screen she could see the images of Shinji and Asuka, Shinji had a tired expression on his face and sat with his eyes closed, Asuka looked bored.

_Cargo Bay 2 is the furthest away, it would be logical to go there first._

Rei switched off the plugs night vision mode just as the beam from one of the flashlights swept over the plug. She readied her hand on the escape lever as the four scavengers conversed among themselves.

"_Captain what do you think this is?"_

"Interesting, it looks to be some sort of advanced defense system, maybe we should take the ship instead of just the cargo. Get someone to prepare the brig and inform the crew we will be taking on some prisoners, looks like there's a lot of money to be made off of this."

"_Yes Sir"_

The four scavengers finally made their way out of the cargo bay as Rei counted to herself silently. She released the lever on the plug and climbed out into the main area of the bay. The Bay was still plunged into darkness, but the small amount of illumination she got from the emergency lights was sufficient. She quickly ran over to one of the entry points to the ships maintenance shaft and took it off, she slid inside and shut the panel.

**Cargo Bay/Unit 02 Storage**

When Rei finally made her way into Eva Unit 2's storage area the light's were still on signifying the scavengers had not yet been through this bay, this however did not buy her a lot of time, she quickly ran over to the control console for Asuka's entry plug and opened it.

"Well it's about time! I was in there..."

"Pilot Sohryu, please keep quiet and follow me, I do not have any time to explain."

"Hold on a minute what's going on?"

Asuka climbed out of the plug and turned to face Rei, she could see Rei was slightly concerned about something, but Asuka was more worried about what was going on.

"Please follow me, I will explain when we are safe."

Rei turned away from her and began to move back towards the maintenance shaft, she climbed into the shaft and waited for Asuka to follow her. Asuka was now confused as to the albino's behaviour and slightly infuriated at not being told what was going on and moved over towards the entry point, she knelt down and began speaking to Rei.

"Hold on a minute, you expect me to get in there? Not until you tell me wha…"

Rei grabbed hold of Asuka's leg throwing her off balance, she then took this opportunity and pulled her into the maintenance shaft, just as the door to the cargo bay began to open. The four scavengers entered the room and began to speaking to each other.

"Captain, there's another one of those giant robot things in here, this one's open though and there's some kind of liquid around the base."

"Probably some sort of check up, that's probably why that other crew member was in the cargo bay, she was maintaining these. We may have a use for her after all."

Asuka watched the four people moving around the bay, looking over all the cargo inside. She turned and whispered to Rei.

"Who are they, and where is Shinji? Is he okay?"

"I am unsure at the moment, he should still be in Unit 01's entry plug"

"Why didn't you get him on the way here?"

"I took the time to memorize the quickest routes around the ship using the maintenance areas in the case of an emergency, it was quicker and safer to come for you first and Shinji second."

Asuka nodded slightly and smiled.

"I knew there was a reason I nicknamed you wondergirl."

They moved along the maintenance shaft for a few moments until Asuka spoke again.

"So what are these areas anyway?"

"They are maintenance shafts used for tending to electronics and also to provide routes around the ship. When I was given my quarters I took the chance to memorize the routes in case of an emergency."

"I see, and this will lead us to where Shinji is?"

"Yes it will."

"Good, I hope he's alright."

"I share your concern for Ikari's status, however I am sure he will be fine."

"Yeah he probably will be."

"Tell me, do you have feelings for Ikari?"

The question took Asuka by surprise, and she stopped slightly trying to think about how to respond. It was true she did feel something for Shinji but she wasn't sure what she felt just yet.

"Wha…. What do you mean?"

"I have noticed that you seem to be quite worried about him and have also been spending a lot of time around him lately and was enquiring as to your feelings about him."

"I… I…. He's a friend."

"I see."

"Why are you asking anyway?"

"Because I have noticed that he has feelings for you, and I do not wish to see him hurt again."

Asuka stopped in her tracks taking in what Rei had said. How had she not noticed? If Shinji had feelings for her just as she did for him, then that would make telling him easier.

_When this is over I'll tell him how I feel, now I know he feels the same._

She was snapped back from her thoughts by Rei calling back to her.

"We have arrived at Unit Ones Bay"

**Cargo Bay/Unit 01 Storage**

Just as before, Rei removed the panel from the wall and moved out into the Cargo Bay, closely followed by Asuka. They both made their way silently over to where the control console was for Unit 01 and opened the plug. Asuka cautiously made her way to the plugs entry and looked inside at Shinji.

_He's…. sleeping…?_

She looked at him and moved in closer to his sleeping form.

_He's so cute when he sleeps… Ok now is not the time. I need to wake this idiot up._

She quietly whispered into his ear trying to wake him up.

"Shinji…. Shinji… wake up you idiot….. Damnit he's a heavy sleeper."

She leaned in closer, and looked at his face. His mouth was slightly open.

_Maybe I should… no I can't… I will_

She leaned in to his face and opened her lips slightly, she was about to lean in to kiss him when she heard Rei's voice.

"Pilot Sohryu, what are you doing?"

Asuka jumped back slightly as Shinji began to wake up.

"Me... uhh nothing I was just trying to wake up Shinji that's all."

"I see."

Shinji by this time was standing up looking at both Asuka and Rei wondering just what was going on. The last thing he had remembered was Misato telling him to standby, he had soon fallen asleep not long after, he had been up late last night playing video games with Asuka.

"Uhh, what's going on?"

Rei turned to Shinji and began to explain.

"The crew of the ship have become incapacitated in someway and the ship has been boarded by four individuals who have come to raid the ship. However it would seem they are now going to attempt to steal the ship and sell it to someone else."

"What? How did they get on board?"

"I am unsure, they have already been through all three of the Cargo Bays though."

"So how were you able to get here?"

"I to.."

Asuka cut in and interrupted Rei.

"Wondergirl here memorized all of the maintenance routes around the ship and got us here. We don't have any time we need to get some weapons and fight off these people, let's head to the armory."

Shinji looked at them both stunned.

"What? We can't fight them off ourselves!"

Rei spoke again.

"Asuka is right, the crew are incapacitated therefore we need to defend ourselves at least until the crew reawaken."

"See I told you I was right, now onto the armory."

"It would not be a wise idea to go to the armory, the scavengers will most likely be heading there, instead we should go to the training facilities and use the weapons there."

Shinji watched them both making plans as to what to do next in a stunned silence, piloting the Eva was one thing but attacking a person was another. He wouldn't be able to attack someone or hurt someone else no matter who they were.

"Rei, aren't the weapons in the armory for training purposes only?"

"Yes Shinji, but we will be able to turn the safety function off and use them as normal weapons."

"Oh right."

Asuka looked at him, she could tell he was concerned about using them against people. She too had the same concerns but she wanted to protect Shinji and the crew.

"Come on Shinji, I'll be there to protect you both anyway, there's nothing to worry about."

"I guess so, let's go then."

With that, the three of them hopped down from the entry plug and back into the main area of the bay. They all moved over to the open maintenance shaft and moved inside keeping as quiet as possible. Rei went in first, followed by Asuka and then finally Shinji.

**Training Room**

The three of them emerged in the ships training room, the lights were dimmed in this section just as they were in the others. They made their way over to the lockers and pulled out their respective weapons. Once they had taken them out they all moved around Rei who was working on taking the safety protocols off.

"So if it's this easy to take the protocols off what's the point of having them on?"

"Misato had the Captain show me how to take off the safety protocols in the case of an emergency. It requires a code to do so."

"When was this?"

"Earlier on today, I was told to inform you and Shinji after the sync test."

"Oh right, so what now?"

"When the protocols are off, it would be wise for us to proceed to the Shuttle Bay, which is where I believe they are docked. If they are taking the crew on board we will need to get onto their ship and hide somewhere until we are able to free the crew."

"Wondergirls a good strategist."

"It is the most logical course of action to take."

Rei handed Asuka's rifle back to her and then took Shinji's off of him to disengage the safety protocols. Asuka observed this and noticed that Shinji had gone slightly pale as the rifle was handed back to him, she also noticed his hand shaking slightly. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and began to follow Rei back to the maintenance shaft. Asuka walked over and stopped him, she took his hand to stop it shaking and smiled at him. As she did so he began to feel slightly calmed, she let go of his hand and moved into the maintenance shaft after Rei. He then followed after them.

**Shuttle Bay**

They emerged in the shuttle bay after some time of moving through the maintenance shafts. The Shuttle bay was still darkened and shown no activity. Just as Rei suspected, this was where the scavengers were docking with the ship. She moved out of the shaft and glanced around noticing the shuttle doors were open.

"They will most likely be using the shuttles to transport some of the cargo on board their ship, there is a section in each of the shuttlecraft for maintenance, I will go inside the first shuttlecraft, and you two should take the second one."

"Hold on, you mean me and Shinji have to share a tight space like that?"

"If you are uncomfortable with it I will take you..."

"No it's fine, but don't get any perverted ideas Shinji."

Rei quickly ran over to the first shuttlecraft and opened up the maintenance port and ducked inside closing the door behind her. She looked back out at Asuka and Shinji through the grating.

_Perhaps this is an inappropriate time, but Miss Katsuragi did ask for my help in the matter._

After a short while, Asuka dashed over to the second shuttle and climbed inside, a few moments later Shinji ran over and ducked inside closing the entry panel as he got inside. He moved around a bit and sat up opposite Asuka.

"There's more room in here then I expected."

"Hmm"

"Asuka…"

"Yes?"

"I'm scared."

"What about?"

"About this, what if we don't succeed? What if I'm unable to fight them and help you and Ayanami?"

"We will succeed though. As long as I'm on the team there's nothing to worry about."

"But I can't fire at another person though."

Asuka sighed slightly at Shinji's remark, she felt the same way though but she had heard them talking about selling the crew and also about having fun with Kira. To her, these scavengers weren't people anymore.

"They're not people, one of them wanted to turn Kira into a slave. It's no different to when you're in the Eva."

This reassured Shinji somewhat and he felt slightly calmed at it, in the darkness he felt Asuka grab hold of his arm and speak to him again.

"Shinji…"

"Yes?"

"I'm scared too….."

**A/N:** Go see Snakes On A Plane


	16. Confessions

_**Conclusion**_

**Scavenger Ship – Prison Cells**

The prison area was made up of six separate cells, the crew had been separated and put into a single cell each. There was no guard to speak of, instead the walls of the cells were hooked up to a generator of sorts. Just as with the ship's exterior, the inside looked to have been built from various parts stolen and salvaged from other vessels. The cells were more like chain link fences with some sort of key code security system stopping them from being opened.

The four members of the crew and Misato had each been put into a separate cell and their weapons and communications devices had been taken. Misato began to awaken, her head was pounding from the effects of being put to sleep earlier. She sat up and her eyes began to adjust to the dim lighting within their prison. She reached out to grab hold of the cell wall to pull herself up but was immediately thrown back by the electrified wall.

She yelled out in pain and was greeted with laughter from the other side of the room.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you pretty lady, those cells may not be the toughest things around but every time you touch it you're going to get shocked with an increasing voltage, now I wouldn't want to sell damaged goods"

"Where are you taking us?"

"We are currently bringing your shuttlecraft on board then we will be taking you and your ship to the Onyx System where you will be sold to the highest bidder."

"What? You can't sell people!"

The man laughed slightly.

"I'm afraid that's where you're wrong, you see I don't know how long you and your friends have been out here but we run this system and we can do whatever we want."

He laughed again and left the room leaving Misato to her thoughts. She looked around trying to see if any of the other crew members were awake yet. In the cell opposite her she could see Kira beginning to wake up. Misato immediately called out to her when she saw her reaching for the cell walls.

"Kira don't touch the cell….."

It was too late Kira yelped out in pain and drew her hand back as she was shocked by the electrified cell walls.

"Wha… what was that?"

"The cells have been electrified, there's no way out."

"Where are we and where are the others?"

"They're in the other cells still asleep, we're on the vessel that attacked us it seems."

"Is it the same people that attacked us before?"

"No, these are scavengers. They attacked us when we didn't comply with their request to hand over the contents of our cargo bay to them."

"What about the children, where are they?"

Fear ran through Misato, she had forgotten about the pilots, they were still in the entry plugs as far as she knew. She bowed her head before responding.

"I don't know, they're not here from what I know, last thing I remember is telling them to sit tight in the entry plugs, then I woke up here."

"How long can they survive in the entry plugs?"

"About twenty four hours, that's if they're not found."

**Scavenger Cargo Bay**

It had felt like an eternity for both Asuka and Shinji as they lay there silent in the maintenance section of the shuttlecraft. Shinji felt his hand clenching and unclenching, it was a habit he had had for as long as he could remember. He willed himself to stop as he felt the shuttlecraft began to shake slightly. Sweat began to form on his forehead as he realized just what was about to happen.

_I won't run away, I can't run away, they need my help._

He felt the shuttle rise slightly and took a look at Asuka. She was staring straight ahead, her eyes showing fierce determination. Shinji envied how she was able to look so calm in such a situation, if it wasn't for the fact that she had told him she was scared and that he could feel her hand shaking against him he would never have guessed she was having the same feelings as he was.

Shinji did his best to try to cast away all his doubts about what was to happen and instead tried to focus on rescuing Misato and the rest of the crew. He was nearly thrown forwards in the cramped space as he felt the shuttle moving upwards and then towards its destination. Shifting uncomfortably, he heard Asuka whispering something to him.

"Do you think wondergirl is alright in the other shuttle on her own?"

"I hope so."

A few minutes later then felt the shuttle coming to a halt and then settling down on solid ground. A few more moments passed as they heard various footsteps above them and the sound of items being moved. Eventually the sounds subsided as the two of them lay there both wondering what to do next. Shinji eventually asked the question they were both wondering.

"So... what now?"

"How should I know, idiot-wondergirl didn't go over this part."

"Well, do we stay here or get out?"

"I don't know, they could still be out there."

"You're right."

"Of course I am! Ok, I've got a plan. On the count of three, kick the entrance open and get out as quick as you can. If there's anyone there you shoot them then tell me when it's safe."

"Hold on… you want me to go out there?"

"Well I can't do it there's no way out of here and I can't get past you. Do you have any better ideas?"

"Well no but..."

"Excellent, Okay on three."

Shinji resigned himself to his fate and prepared himself to get out of the cramped shuttle.

"One…"

He held his breath and placed one hand on the rifle.

"Two…"

He brought his leg up and prepared to kick the door off the shuttle.

"Thr…"

Asuka was about the finish counting when the door was pulled off from outside the shuttle, Shinji jumped back crushing Asuka in the process who screamed out in pain. Shinji looked at whoever it was opening the door and was greeted with the puzzled face of Rei, who was now looking at Asuka and Shinji lying on top of each other.

"I do not think this is an appropriate time, we must get to the crew."

Shinji turned to face Asuka who was now glaring daggers into him, he gulped slightly and rolled out of the shuttle craft, although he was given a slight bit of help by a carefully aimed kick from Asuka. He stood up and waited for Asuka to make her way out. She too stood up and faced Rei.

"Ok so your plan worked, we're on their ship. What do we do now?"

Rei thought it over for a moment and then replied.

"We must locate where they have taken the crew, it would be best for us to try and stay hidden from whoever is on this ship though."

"There are only four people though, we can take them on easily, and we have the element of surprise after all."

"There are only four that we know of, however it would be safe to assume there are more on board, from what I heard when I was still in the shuttlecraft I would estimate about twelve people."

Asuka glared down at the ground, it was not that she didn't like Rei's plan or how she was seemingly in charge, it was the fact that she was always right and easily able to prove her wrong. She looked over at Shinji and realized that at least she knew he wouldn't be able to prove her wrong any time soon.

"Ok wondergirl, so if there are about twelve people on board then it would be best for us to stick together. They must have one person guarding the crew, those four people we've seen are bound to be on this ships bridge, that leaves seven roaming the ship, so all we have to do is avoid them and get to where the crew are being held."

"That's correct, we should move right away in case anyone comes back."

"Well let's go then."

**Scavenger Bridge**

The Bridge, just like the rest of the ship seemed to be a collection of parts from other vessels, there were a few consoles scattered around the room all of them had the same insignia on the side and looked as though they were a part of the original ship. There was no captains chair to speak of, instead the only seating in the room were two seats towards the front for the pilots.

The piloting of the ship was done with some form of flight stick, above it was a console which gave several details such as coordinates and weapons charge. As opposed to the B Class ship there was no autopilot, instead it was all done manually with exception of the ships faster then light system which was controlled from the flight stick.

There was a communications panel to the back of the bridge, on it was a small screen probably used for video feeds, a microphone like device stuck out of the console for audio. Stood over the console at the moment was Korax. He was wearing an impatient look on his face as he waited for the person on the other end to answer his communication request.

"_This had better be important Korax I have important business to deal with."_

"Oh it is, I have something you will be interested in."

"_And that is?"_

"A ship"

_"A ship? Is that right? In case you didn't know, I have several already."_

"Not like this you don't, this one comes complete with a crew of five and a powerful weapons system we haven't seen before."

_"If it's so powerful then how come they were captured by you?"_

"They simply didn't have a chance to deploy them, Valkris is sending you the details now. There are three of these things, perfect for land combat."

_"I see, and the crew, what race are they?"_

"They call themselves humans, apparently there's an entire colony of them out there."

_"A colony you say, fine I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement."_

"Excellent."

Korax closed the communications channel and turned to the person sitting at the helm controls.

"Take us to the Onyx system, once there inform our potential buyer of what we are selling and how much we want."

"Yes sir."

**Prison Cells**

Not much had changed in the prison cells, Misato was now sitting with her back to the wall looking for some way to get out. The rest of the crew had awakened in the past thirty minutes, their guard had also returned and taunted them all as they sat there powerless to do anything. All Misato was bothered about was knowing if the children were safe, but she couldn't say anything in case they were safe. The last thing she wanted was to see them all ending up here resigned to the same fate as she was.

She looked over at the guard and noticed he had a security card on him, suddenly an idea started to form in her mind about just how to get them out of the cells. Trying to make as little noise and show as little movement as possible, she felt around her jacket and found her pistol tucked in where she always kept it. She smiled slightly as the plan began to form in her mind, she looked over at the guard again, eyeing him up.

_Well he's not human… but he doesn't look too none human for this to be too bad._

She sighed heavily as she put phase one of her plan into action.

"Hey Guard, you said we're going to be sold as slaves right?"

**Corridor**

The three pilots moved along the corridor as silently as they could, each pointing their rifles forward. Rei had the lead, quickly followed by Shinji and then Asuka who was covering their behind. Rei was trying to figure out just where the crew would be located, inside her heart was pounding with fear. It was times like this she envied Asuka and Shinji for being able to show their emotions, she had never been told or shown how to express emotion. She had tried to make sense of it but had never known how. She had spoken with Misato about certain things and had been learning from her but was still unsure about many things. It was during these talks with Misato she had learnt about Asuka and Shinji's feelings for each other. Maybe Misato was starting to rub off on her as when she heard about it she had resolved to see them both happy and together.

She tried to put these thoughts out of her head and concentrate on the mission at hand. Rei worried about what would happen if they were to come up against someone, however, she had never intentionally hurt another person, and while she was sure she would be able to handle it she still had doubts over whether she could. They continued moving through the corridor until they got to a doorway, Rei pressed herself flat against one side and Asuka pressed herself against the other side. Rei looked at Shinji and whispered to him.

"Ikari, open the door and enter first, we will follow behind."

Shinji looked at them both and felt the sweat begin to form on his forehead again. His heart pounding he lent towards the door and began to slide it open. He quickly slid it open and stepped through, aiming his rifle at whatever might have been in there. He quickly moved inside and was closely followed by Asuka and Rei. He looked around and noticed he was in a dining area, in the center was a large oval shaped table, straight ahead was a doorway. On the right was another corridor leading out. They slowly made their way into the room and once again paused. The three of them waited in silence, looking around until Asuka broke the silence.

"Shinji, you stand guard over there, Rei and I will look around for any hint as to where the rest are, ok?"

"Ok."

Shinji slowly made his way over to the entrance to the corridor and looked into it for any signs of life. Asuka and Rei began moving around and eventually came across a chest. They both put down their rifles and began filing through the chest.

**Prison Cells**

The guard's ears pricked up at hearing Misato's request.

"Well, I'm sure something can be arranged."

"I'm glad to hear it, you see I'd be no use to whoever buys the ship because I don't know how to use anything on it, I'd be much more use in the service of someone like you."

She spoke seductively and winked at him. The rest of the crew stared at her wondering just what she was up to, they simply stayed silent and watched the scene unfold.

"I can take you to the captain right away, I'm sure we could use someone like you around the ship."

"Good, I'm looking forward to being in your service."

The guard stood up and moved over towards her cell and swiped his card in the reader, opening the cell. He stepped inside and grabbed hold of Misato and began stroking her hair. She tried her best to keep up the seductive act and began to kiss the guard on the lips all the while pulling him into the cell.

She felt around for his card and grabbed hold of it, he suddenly realized what was going on.

"What... what are you doing?"

"Getting out of here"

She kneed him sharply, sending him crashing down to the ground as she backed out of the cell immediately swiping the card and locking the guard inside. He lurched forward to grab hold of her, getting shocked by the cell in the process. He done this again but this time he got knocked unconscious by the power of the shock.

_What an idiot…_

She swiped the card in the other cells, freeing the crew members and she pulled out her pistol. The rest of the crew stepped out and looked towards the doorway leading out of there. Kira was the first to speak.

"Ok, we're out, so what now?"

John looked over at Misato and the pistol.

"We have one weapon between five, we need to acquire some weapons and get back to the ship."

Misato quickly interjected herself.

"We need to make sure the children are safe as well, we don't know how long we've been over here, they might not have long left in the entry plugs."

"Right, lets find a shuttlecraft and get out of here as soon as possible then."

"Agreed"

**Dining Area**

Rei and Asuka were still looking through the chest for some sign of where they were on the ship. Eventually Asuka came across what they were looking for.

"Shinji, we've found it."

"Found what?"

"The map of the deck you idiot, now we can find out where the crew is being held."

"Ok well let's find out."

The three of them crowded round the table in the corner and started studying the map. Rei was about the point out the way to the prison area when a voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Well, what do we have here?"

The three of them spun round to be greeted by one of the ships crew members, he was currently unarmed. Shinji aimed his rifle at him as the person carried on speaking.

"Well well, just where did you three stowaways come from then. I'm sure the captain will be pleased to hear about what I've found here."

Shinji kept his rifle aimed at the person, his hand tensed around the handle as his finger reached for the trigger. He closed his eyes as he heard Asuka whispering to him.

"Shinji, come on, what are you waiting for?"

The man carried on speaking, this time taking the opportunity to taunt Shinji.

"What's the matter child, can't do it?"

A loud bang was heard from inside the room as the man fell forward. Shinji's finger still on the trigger, his body was frozen with fear. The other two looked on in shock as Misato and the rest of the crew stepped forward into the room, much to everyone's relief. Shinji lowered the weapon and dropped it to the floor as Misato ran forward and embraced him. The captain stepped in next and looked over at the three pilots.

"Well this is a surprise, what exactly are you three doing over here?"

Rei stepped forward and began to explain.

"When we found something was wrong with the crew we decided to attempt to rescue you from here."

John laughed slightly at hearing the explanation, he had expected the weapons training to help them a bit and toughen them up but had not expected them to try and launch a full scale rescue operation. He looked at the three rifles and then over to Rei suddenly remembering what he had told her earlier that day.

"Rei… did you disengage the safety protocols on those rifles."

"Yes sir, I thought that if we were going to attempt anything it would be best to disengage them in case we came up against any trouble."

Misato turned around and let Shinji go, she stood up and faced the captain.

"Safety protocols?"

He gulped slightly.

"Now isn't the time to explain, we need to get off this junk heap. Joanne, Mike, take a rifle each. Children, can you lead us to the shuttle bay? I assume they took both of our shuttles."

"Yes sir."

**Scavenger Cargo Bay**

The crew and children moved into the Cargo bay and over towards the shuttles. As they entered they noticed the Captain of the ship stood in between the two shuttles surrounded by three other men.

"Going somewhere?"

John quickly fired a shot off at one of the men, Joanne and Mike followed suit taking down two of the others. John stepped over to the man who was now looking very frightened.

"I am not in the mood right now, you will give us back all of the cargo you have taken, you will return our shuttles and our ship. Then we will never hear from you again. Do you understand?"

"Can't we come to some sort of arrange…"

"I'm not negotiating with you, I'm ordering you. You will return everything or we will take it back by force."

"We….we have an agreement."

"Good, I thought so."

**Training Room**

Shinji sat alone in the training room, going back over the events of the day. If it wasn't for Misato coming in at that point what would have happened to him, Asuka and Rei? He had avoided them both since getting back to the ship and was now sat in the training room after returning the rifles. He was sure he had let them all down by tensing up then.

_If it was Rei or Asuka in that position they'd have had no problem with it, I'm a coward._

He was about to get up when the door opened and Asuka stepped through into the room, she stood directly in front of him and glared at him. He tried to avoid her gaze and just looked down at the floor. He heard her sigh as he continued staring at the floor.

"So are you going to be in here all day then?"

"Why do you care?"

She was taken aback by his comment, she knew he would be dwelling on what happened earlier that day but wasn't expecting anything like that. She sat down next to him and continued the conversation.

"Shinji…"

"What? You want to know why I didn't fire don't you? you're here to call me an idiot and a coward, well get on with it."

She couldn't take it anymore, he was now shouting at her, she turned him to face her and slapped him across the face.

"I wasn't here for that idiot, I don't think you're a coward."

He shifted away from her still staring at the floor, doing so Asuka noticed a tear falling to the floor.

"Shinji, don't worry about it, if it was me I wouldn't have been able to either. I came here to give you something instead."

He turned to face her puzzled his time, she noticed his face was slightly red from where she had previously slapped him and there were still tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Close your eyes."

"Asuka what are you…"

"Close them, idiot."

Deciding to play along, he closed his eyes. Asuka breathed in deeply and decided to go ahead with this.

_Ok, now or never…here goes._

She slowly leaned in and pressed her lips to his, and first she felt him try to resist but he soon stopped and began to return the kiss. She stroked his head slightly as she felt him running his hand through her hair. After a few more moments of kissing each other they both pulled back and looked into each others eyes. Shinji sat there in a stunned silence with his mouth open, Asuka grabbed hold of his hand and broke the silence.

"Shinji, there's something I need to tell you. I've wanted to tell you for a while but I didn't know how."

He sat there his mouth still wide open in shock, was Asuka about to tell him what he had wanted to tell her all along.

"Shinji I want to be with you. Ever since the moment when I first woke up, I've felt the same way. I want you near me and to be with me all the time."

He put his other hand over hers and looked deep into her eyes.

"Asuka… I…. I want the same."

With that they both leaned in to kiss each other once again.

A/N: Aww, wasn't that sweet. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this. I've been waiting a while for the perfect opportunity to have Asuka and Shinji confess to each other and this just popped into my mind. Anyway please review, with the last chapter I hit my first target of 50 reviews, I'm now aiming for 100. Also with this chapter I've hit a milestone of 50,000 words. Thanks to all the people that are reading, there's going to be much more to come.


	17. Arrival

Rei found herself bathed in a dark red glow, she felt herself being pulled down to the ground. The glow subsided as she felt herself hitting the ground with a thud, surprisingly to her she felt no pain. She picked herself up off of the cold steel floor and looked around. She was in a large dimly lit octagonal room, each of the walls alternated between windows and an exit into a corridor. Towards the centre of the room was a raised platform with ramp ways leading up to it.

Rei walked over to one of the windows and looked outside in awe, she was in some sort of huge orbital city. The room she was in was connected to loads of other sections, and many other buildings were scattered around the complex she was in. Several shuttles sped back and forth between the different buildings. In the distance she could see a huge metallic structure aiming some sort of beam at a giant asteroid, breaking it apart and then pulling the remnants into itself.

Suddenly a flash of light filled the room, Rei shielded her eyes until the light subsided. When the lighting returned to normal she found herself back in the same room, however this time the windows had changed to a solid wall and the exits to the corridors had changed to closed doorways, each with the words 'Aluka Research Facilities' wrote across them. The center of the room had changed as well, now three devices were set up in a triangular formation around a cylindrical chamber.

Rei moved up towards the chamber and looked inside. She had seen this before, three spheres circling a smaller object. Each of the spheres seemed to be drawing some sort of power out of the smaller object. They continued orbiting the object in a slow manner until once again the room flashed with light. Fear began to grip Rei as she anxiously looked for a way out, she felt herself begin to sweat with fear.

_What is this? Where am I?_

The spheres begin to orbit faster and faster as the smaller object began to increase in size. It suddenly dawned on Rei, it was not the spheres that were drawing something out of the object they were orbiting but the other way round. Rei tried to step away from the chamber but found herself glued to the spot.

The room flashed again and now the object was even bigger and was nearly filling the chamber. The orbiting spheres were no more than dots flying around. Rei suddenly felt drawn to the light within the chamber and reached out. She put her hand into the chamber and tried to grasp at the light. She felt her hand clutch something within the center of the light. Before she could pull it out the room flashed again, only this time the light within the chamber vanished, instead she could see someone through the chamber. A boy of around 14 years of age with shoulder length silver hair, he was stood muttering something that Rei couldn't understand. She found herself able to move once again and moved around to the boy.

"Who are you?"

She got no response from him, instead he reached out and grabbed hold of both of her hands. Rei was still unable to see his face as he was still looking down at the ground. The room flashed again but nothing changed this time, except the boy looked up and stared Rei in the eyes. As he did so terror gripped Rei as she screamed out as loud as she could. The room flashed again several times until the boy vanished and was instead replaced with a doorway of light. She felt herself being pulled into the doorway and was bathed with light. Pain shot through every part of her body as she screamed out as loud as she could, all she could hear was a voice repeating the same phrase over and over again.

"Welcome…. To Aluka."

The voice increased in volume until Rei screamed out once again, the light subsided and she shot up in bed, shaking and sweating from her most vivid nightmare yet.

**Shinji's Quarters**

It had been a few days since the incident with the ship being taken over and Shinji had been the happiest he had ever been since that day. He and Asuka had finally been able to confess their feelings towards each other and had now started a relationship with each other. The two of them had decided to keep their relationship a secret for now until they decided the time was right to make it known they were together, after all they needed some time together until Misato started teasing them both.

It had been difficult to keep the relationship a secret, after all they were not a conventional couple. They were unable to go out on dates due to them being on a starship, the only place they could really be together was in their quarters. They had nearly been caught out already however when Asuka decided to try and make out with Shinji after a spell in the training room. They had turned up earlier than arranged so while they were waiting they found themselves making out in the same place where they confessed to each other, they were right in the middle when Rei walked in. Luckily for them they were able to make it look as though Asuka was teaching Shinji how to aim a rifle more efficiently.

His good mood had only been heightened by the news that the ship would soon be docking at the Alpha 01 Colonies. Shinji had promised Asuka that when they were there he would take her out on a proper date, now all he had to do was plan the thing. He thought it might be nice to go for a meal and do something else, it was the something else that was troubling him. No one on the ship had any idea what was within the colonies as no one had ever been there before. He muttered aloud to himself

"This is stupid, I don't even know what sort of money they use there, how can I plan something like this without knowing anything about it."

He was about to pick up his SDAT when the buzzer on his door went off, he went over to see who it was and was greeted by a visibly shaken Rei.

"Uhh, Rei, hi."

"Ikari, can I speak with you?"

Shinji was slightly confused, he had never known Rei to ask to talk to him or anyone for that matter. He wondered just what was wrong, she looked to be very upset and shaken.

"Sure, come in."

She stepped into his quarters and stood in the middle looking around, the first thing she noticed was how tidy Shinji's quarters were. Another thing that she noticed was the Cello sitting in the corner of the room. Shinji walked over and sat on his bed, he noticed Rei was still stood in the center of the room looking at him.

"Uhh Rei, take a seat."

"Thank you, Ikari."

She moved over to the bed and sat down on the end.

"So what did you want to speak to me about?"

"Ikari wha..."

He cut her off before she could continue.

"You don't have to be so formal all the time, call me Shinji instead."

"Ok I will, Shinji, what do you know about nightmares?"

He looked at her curiously, wondering why the girl would ask a question such as this.

"Not much, why do you ask?"

"I have been… experiencing strange dreams since we came on the ship. Lately they have intensified into what could be considered nightmares."

"Have you told anyone about them?"

"No, I did not think it was important. However the one I experienced last night was very frightening and intense."

Shinji looked at her again, this time the confusion was gone and was now replaced with compassion for the girl.

"Can I ask what happened in this nightmare?"

She recounted the events of the dream to him, from the very beginning with being bathed in a red light, to the fortress in the stars and then to the boy and then to everything collapsing in the end. Upon hearing this Shinji could understand why the dream had disturbed Rei so much.

"Have you had any others like this?"

"Not as vivid as this, this is the first time I have seen the boy and the room was different than what I have seen before."

He nodded and then began speaking again.

"Rei have you ever spoken to anyone about what happened before third impact or during third impact?"

"No, why is that important?"

"Not really, its just after we came on board I kept on having nightmares that were very vivid and scary and I rarely slept because of it, but after I spoke to Misato and Asuka about them they started to go away."

"Do you think I should talk to Misato and Sohryu as well?"

"Well you should definitely talk to Misato, it will probably help. Misato is a good person."

"Thank you Shinji, I will do that then."

"Good, and uhh Rei... if you ever need to talk I'm always here and I'm sure Asuka is as well, we're all in this together."

"Thank you, I will be sure to not tell anyone about your and Asuka's relationship."

"Goo… Uhh what do you mean mine and Asuka's relationship?"

"I have noticed you and Asuka have been spending a lot of time together and I saw you both kissing in the training room, does this not mean you are both in a relationship with each other?"

Shinji felt his face glow red as he looked at Rei.

"Well uhh... you see the thing is we were going to keep it a secret until the time was right… so could you not let anyone know that you know and make sure Asuka doesn't find out you know either."

"I will do that, thank you for your help."

She turned and left the room leaving a blushing Shinji stood in the center of the room.

_Asuka… is going to kill me…_

**Bridge**

Misato was starting to become accustomed to traveling in space, a few weeks ago she would never have dreamed such a thing would be possible. In fact a few weeks ago all she was concerned with was getting revenge on the angels for her father's death. Now however, all thoughts of Angels, NERV and Tokyo 3 had been put out of her head as she looked out the view screen at the image of the Alpha 01 Colony Planet.

The journey here had not been as uneventful as they had hoped, but now they had arrived at their destination and were glad to know it was still here and intact. Misato had been looking forward to getting here for many reasons, first it would offer her a chance to take a break and indulge in her favorite activity namely drinking and secondly it would give her time to talk to the kids again, she had not been able to spend much time with them as she had other duties to attend to.

John was stood at the front of the ship looking at the ship approaching the colonies, unfortunately for him his visit here would not be to take in the sights of the colony or to enjoy the luxuries it has to offer, instead his time would most likely be spent with Admiral Takahashi going through what has happened since the loss of Earth and all about the Eva's. Still he was glad that the colonies were still in tact and that humanity was still able to go on. He would also have to recount the incident earlier that week with the scavengers, he would however miss out the berating he got from Misato for telling them how to remove the safety protocols on the rifles.

For Lieutenant Harrison, the visit to the colonies will be spent on the ship, they were still having problems with random power fluctuations since installing the Magi systems. It was nothing major, only the lights dimming in certain sections of the ship, but it could lead to something worse if not dealt with. She had not had a chance to look at it yet due to the ship using the light drive and not being able to take certain systems offline so the week they will be staying at the colonies will give her plenty of time to sort out the problems with the Magi and Ship compatibility.

Much like Lieutenant Harrison, Mike would be working on the ship as well, or to be more precise between the ship and the supply stations on the colony. He wanted to ensure the ship was well prepared in terms of weaponry and other supplies in case of an incident like the one a few days ago. He also wanted to try out a new experimental mobile force field system on the ship, which will allow him to set up force fields at any section of the ship by a simple command to the computer.

Kira was the only member of the main crew who would be taking a break, however she wanted to stock up the medical bay with supplies before she explored the colony. She then wanted to take the time to explore the stores within the colony, she had not been able to get anything in Tokyo 3 and she was getting fed up of having to wear the same stuff every couple of days. She was not sure what sort of stores would be within the colony but she knew there was an entertainment district, she just hoped her Card had enough Credits stored on it to get what she needed.

A beeping noise was heard on the bridge as Misato called out to the crew.

"The colony is contacting us, shall I put them through?"

"Yes, right away."

John stood up and moved towards the view screen as the image of Admiral Takahashi appeared in a section to the bottom right.

"_Captain Frakes, it's good to see you."_

"Likewise Admiral, I only wish it was under better circumstances."

"_Yes well, we will save that for later. An area has been cleared for you to land, we are uploading the coordinates to you now. Once down we will assign your crew temporary accommodation and then we will discuss the situation at hand."_

"Understood we are receiving the coordinates now, we will be landing in fifteen minutes."

_"Understood, Takahashi out."_

**Temporary Accommodation**

Misato stepped into the living area and took a look around, it certainly was a large place they would be staying in for the next week. There were three bedrooms, a small kitchen, a bathroom and a large living area. To make matters even better she had persuaded the people assigning her the room to put the three pilots in with her.

_Asuka and Shinji are going to be so surprised when they see this._

She picked up the case she had set down a few minutes ago and moved into her bedroom to get changed and explore the colony. As she did so the door to the quarters opened and Shinji stepped on through. He stepped through into the living area and put his case down in the center of the room and looked around. He was surprised at the size of the room, if this was their temporary room he'd love to see what permanent accommodation would be like.

_Wow this place is huge, and three bedrooms as well… I wonder why I need that many._

Part of his question was answered when the door opened and Asuka entered the room much to Shinji's surprise. He dropped his case and walked over to her picking up her case from her and taking it into the living area. She entered in just after him and kissed him on the cheek for helping her.

"I can't believe they put us in the same room."

"I know, at least we'll have some time to ourselves without Misato or any of the others getting in the way."

Shinji put his arms around her and sat down on one of the sofas in the room pulling Asuka with him. He kissed her again before starting to speak.

"Asuka..."

"Yes Shinji."

"Have you still been having those nightmares about third impact?"

She looked up at him quizzically and wondered just why he would ask such a thing.

"Not for a while, why have you?"

"No, it's just that Rei visited me today."

Asuka pulled herself away from him and looked down at the ground.

"Right, and what did wondergirl want?"

"She told me she had been having strange dreams lately, I thought it was the same as what we had about third impact, but when she told me it didn't sound anything like that."

"Ok, why are you telling me?"

"I was just… concerned about her I guess."

"Well what did you tell her?"

"I told her what I done to stop my nightmares by talking to you or Misato and advised her to do the same."

"You told her to talk to me?"

"Actually I said Misato would be the best choice."

"Good, so why the concern?"

"Well it's just that Rei is… different to us."

Asuka rolled her eyes at this statement.

"Again I ask… why the concern?"

"Well I don't know, I just don't want to see her being hurt by something like that, she looked really upset when she came to see me."

"Hmm"

She put her arms around him again and rested her head on his shoulder. She was just about to close her eyes when she heard a thud from inside one of the rooms.

"Shinji… did you hear that?"

He nodded as another thud came from within the room, then they heard a shout from inside.

"PenPen, no, what are you doing with that? It's not for penguins."

They both turned to look at each other.

"You don't think?"

Asuka nodded.

"So much for spending time together…"

The door to the room opened and PenPen waddled through into the living area and sat on the sofa in between Asuka and Shinji, both of whom looked to be in a state of shock. A few seconds later Misato stepped through into the room.

"Ahh, you two are finally here, Rei should be arriving soon. I got them to put all of us in the same place. What do you think?"

Both of them muttered angrily.

"Excellent…"

"Well make yourself at home I've just got to..."

She was cut off by a voice coming over her comm. device.

"Miss Katsuragi please report to the command center as soon as possible."

**ASPE Command Center**

Misato stepped through into the command center and looked around.

"Miss Katsuragi I'm glad you made it, I am Commander Percival, I am the one who called you here. We have an incident that I'm told you have experience with."

"Uhh, Ok then."

"Take a look at this."

He led her to a console at the other end of the center and showed her the contents of the screen. On it was a metallic spider like creature, it appeared to have razor sharp legs and was currently motionless. It appeared to be the same colour as the sphere they had encountered earlier.

"What is it?"

"That's what we were hoping you'd help us with, it just appeared and we've currently got a security device monitoring it."

"I've never seen anything like it, what have your scans said?"

"Inconclusive, we're detecting some sort of life sign but nothing major."

"Where is the Captain?"

"Admiral Takahashi has taken him into the colonies research center, they are currently cut off from our communications, that's why we called you."

"Ok, hold on a minute."

Misato pulled out her comm. device and tapped the button on it.

"Joanne, I need a favour. Go to the bridge and send out an alert, Get all three pilots in the Eva's and prepare them for launch as soon as possible."

"Sure thing, Misato"

Misato turned to the young commander.

"I need to head to the ship."

"Ok what for and what are the Eva's?"

"There's no time, I'll explain later."

A few minutes later Misato was on the bridge of the ship and had the image of the mechanical spider on the view screen. Behind her was Commander Percival and Lieutenant Harrison. Suddenly on the screen two red blasts were sent towards the spider, the console in front of Misato lit up as the beams ricocheted off the spiders A.T. Field.

"Commander, inform anyone in the area to get away as soon as they can."

She then hammered one of the buttons on the console.

"Ok you three, I'm giving you the coordinates of the enemy, find it and destroy it before it reaches the colony."

On the screen the spider began to move slowly in the direction of the colony. Security drones whirred past it but each one was taken out by some sort of turret defense system on the spider. After the final ready signal from the pilots, Misato launched the Eva's.

**Battlefield**

Unit 1 broke away from the ship and began moving in the direction of the mechanical spider. To its sides were Unit 0 and Unit 2, each of them aimed with their standard rifles. Shinji looked straight ahead of him, the beast in clear view. He was moving slowly towards it making sure not to make any sudden movements. Around him he saw the colony security drones making their way back to the colony after an unsuccessful attack on the droid.

"Ok, moving towards the target, let's take it down as quick as possible."

With this the three units began to move quicker towards the target, Unit 0 and 2 broke off the formation and moved further out to the side leaving Shinji to face the droid head on. He aimed the rifle at the center of the spider and fired at it, most of the bullets hitting the droids A.T. Field and bouncing off. A beam shot out of one of the turrets that he was just able to dodge. Another beam shot out that hit his rifle and knocked it out of the Eva's hand.

"Shinji, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Asuka, you and Rei just try to keep it distracted."

Unit's 0 and 2 then opened fire on the droid attempting to neutralize it's A.T. Field. It seemed to be working as some of the bullets began to make their way through and hit the target. The spider was motionless but it kept on firing from its turret defense at the units, keeping them pinned down. Shinji took this as a good opportunity to release his progressive knife from his Eva's shoulder unit.

Holding it out, he ran towards the spider and tore through it's already weakened A.T. Field. He drove the knife into the top of the droid and began to tear down.

_This is too easy_

He was about to drive the Knife into the being again when he felt his Eva begin to sink into the ground. He looked down and noticed a pool of black has appeared around him and the beast.

_Not again, not this again._

He began hitting at the spider more frantically as shouts came over his comm. device.

"_Shinji, are you alright? What's going on?"_

"Somebody help me, its pulling me in. Help me!"

Unit 2 stopped firing at the being and instead dashed over towards Unit 1 and grabbed hold of its flailing hand.

"_Shinji you idiot, stop moving about"_

"Asuka, help me."

Asuka put all the strength she could into pulling Unit 1 out of the Sea of Dirac. She looked up just in time to catch one of the spider's turret systems firing another blast at her. It caught unit 2 directly in the face and sent it flying back.

"ASUKA!"

Shinji drove the knife into the turret, disabling it for good as he felt himself being pulled further into the sea. His vision began to darken as he felt himself slipping further and further. All he could hear was Misato's cries over the radio.

"_Oh my god Shinji, Somebody get him out of there. SHINJI!"_

**Research Centre**

The elevator reached the bottom of the research center and Admiral Takahashi and the Captain stepped out into the main area.

"So, Admiral what is this you are about to show me?"

"Something of great importance, do you remember about 14 of 15 years ago an explosion at an ASPE Research facility?"

"I was only young then, but I remember reading about it at the academy. Anyway, yes I remember. A terrorist group bombed the facility didn't they?"

"That's what we told everyone. We were researching something we found there, an artifact. Anyway, one night without any warning the artifact started to act all strange and interfered with our sensors. We were able to get most of the team out but many lives were lost that day."

"I see, so why the cover story?"

"Because we went back a few days after and we found something else."

"I see, and what would this be?"

"Something that could change everything we know about life and the universe. You see when we went back we didn't find an artifact we found a person."

"A person?"

"Yes, a boy to be precise. However he appeared to be comatose, that is until a few weeks ago, the same time we lost contact with Earth."

"The boy is here?"

"Yes, this colony is not just for researching technology and light drives. It's also home to what is known as the Genesis Project."

"And what is the aim of this project."

"You will find out soon enough."

They reached the end of the corridor and were now at a large security door. The Admiral pulled out a card and swiped it. The door opened revealing a set of quarters not dissimilar to the ones on the ship. In the center sat a boy of about 14 playing a violin, he noticed the two people walking in and set the violin down and looked over at the Captain. The first thing that struck John about this person was his bright red eyes, the second was his long shoulder length silver hair.

"Captain Frakes, I would like you to meet 'Adam'."

A/N: Oh a double cliffhanger, this chapter marks the beginning of the third major story arc. The second story arc was quite short and was only really to begin Asuka and Shinji's relationship. This arc will be where the main storyline really kicks off. Anyway please be sure to tell me your thoughts on this chapter and of the fic. As a whole, so far.


	18. Genesis

**Battlefield**

Shinji felt himself being pulled further and further into the sea of Dirac. He had grabbed onto the mechanical spider trying to pull himself out but it was no use, he felt himself slipping in, by now the sea was up to the Eva's neck. He felt something pull hard on his hand and looked up. Unit 2 was desperately trying to pull him up and out of the sea. Shinji heard Misato shouting franticly over the radio.

"_Asuka, what are you doing?"_

"What does it look like? I'm trying to stop him from sinking further and further in."

"_What about the spider?"_

"It's dead, motionless. Shinji drove his blade through its weapon."

"_Ok, keep hold of him, Rei help Asuka, we'll send more help."_

Shinji felt a second hand trying to pull him out as he saw Unit 0 above him as well. It was no use however, he felt the blackness swimming over his Eva as the head of Unit 1 was pulled under.

_Guess this is it then, I can't escape from this twice._

He could still hear the voices going back and forth on the comm. system. Every single bit of optimism escaped him as he peered into the vastness of the Sea of Dirac. Above him he could still feel the force of Asuka and Rei trying to pull him back out.

**Bridge**

Fear gripped Misato as she stared at the screen along with a feeling of déjà vu. Memories of the twelfth angel flooded back to here as she fought back tears trying to think of a way to get Shinji out of this predicament. This time the sea cast no shadow and there was no angel. This time if they lost Shinji, she knew it was for good. She turned to Commander Percival who was just finishing talking to someone on his comm. device.

He glanced up at the screen at the images the sensor droids were feeding back, by now Unit 1 was almost completely submerged save for its two hands, and now the sea had started to pull Units 0 and 2 in. He quickly went over to the communications console in the command center trying to contact the Admiral again.

"Shit, they're still down in the research center we have no way of contacting them, even the emergency frequencies are cut out."

Misato looked at him and then back to the screen, they were running out of time and she would not lose Shinji like this.

She shouted back to the two pilots.

"What's your status?"

Rei replied.

"_We are still able to feel Pilot Ikari, however we are now being pulled in ourselves."_

"Keep hold of him, we are trying to find a way to help."

Commander Percival heard this and looked at the screen again. He looked at Misato who was now finding it very hard to keep her composure. He pulled out his comm. device to alert the command center.

"How long until the others are submerged?"

"_Ten minutes at the most."_

"Lieutenant Sasaki, alert all shuttlecraft pilots to their shuttles now and upload the coordinates of the Eva's to them as well."

"_Yes Sir."_

He held down a button on the console and spoke loudly.

"This is Commander Percival, we have an emergency situation. All available shuttlecraft pilots please head to the coordinates we have uploaded to you. Once there, use your Cargo Winches to try and get the two Eva's out and away from that area, we have ten minutes at the most."

He moved back over and looked at the screen. As he did so, just about every single shuttle craft in the colony moved up and towards the scene of the battle. Misato turned to look at him fearing for the lives of the Eva Pilots still.

"Do you think this will work?"

"I hope so, most of the shuttles within this Colony were made for heavy lifting and transport of Cargo, it's the only chance we have."

**Battlefield**

Asuka was holding on with all her strength as she stood on the edge of the Sea of Dirac, she slowly felt herself being pulled in towards it but she wouldn't let go, she couldn't let go if this thing was going to take Shinji it was going to take her as well. She could still feel the hand of Eva Unit 1 even though most of her own Eva's arm was now submerged and the Sea was now starting to pull her and Rei in. The comm. line had been silent for quite some time and she began to fear the worst about her boyfriend.

"Shinji are you still there?"

She waited a moment and got no reply, she fought back tears as she came to the realization that maybe this was the end.

_How come every time we find happiness it's torn away from us… no I'm not going to let this happen._

Her anger began to get more intense as she began to pull even harder then before.

_Come on mama, don't fail me now_

**Bridge**

"Miss Katsuragi you have to see this"

Misato was currently stood at the front of the Bridge with her arms folded watching everything unfolding on the screen.

"What is it?"

"It's Unit 2, its sync ratio just skyrocketed."

Misato looked at the panel showing Unit 2's sync ratio, the commander was right, it had sky rocketed. It had climbed up to 87 and was still going. The panel underneath provided a visual feed of inside the entry plug showing Asuka's face determined as ever on getting Shinji out.

"Asuka your sync ratio just jumped up, what's going on?"

Asuka's reply came back over the comm. system immediately.

"_I'm not going to be beaten by a puddle of black goo"_

"Asuka try to hold on, we have sent help. They should be with you in a few minutes."

Misato looked down again and the sync ratio had jumped even more, now around the 98 Mark.

_If she goes any higher she's putting herself at risk, those shuttles need to get there quickly._

"Asuka your sync ratio is dangerously high, you're putting yourself at risk. We've sent help, you don't need to do this."

_"NO, I won't let it beat me, I'm not going to lose."_

Asuka shut off the comm. link as her sync ratio hit 100

"She's determined."

"She's more then that, she's cut off the communications to her Eva as well."

"What should we do?"

"Nothing, leave her, if this works I'll speak to her on her own."

"Ok, well the shuttles have arrived."

**Battlefield/Sea of Dirac**

It had seemed like an eternity for Shinji as he sat there in silence, he could still feel the force of the other two units trying to pull him out but he was all but certain he was doomed. He had shut down the visual link to converse the Eva's power but turned it on for a brief moment to see if anything had changed. When he turned it back on what he saw was a change but a change for the worse.

He wasn't sure if it was a hallucination but the Eva was now above a city. He looked up and saw the Eva's arms were still inside the Sea of Dirac but he was being pulled out of it now. The city was like nothing he had ever seen before, it was like something from a nightmare. Huge towering metallic skyscrapers were littered around the city, connected to each other by various pipes and walkways. On the floor of the city was not pavement, instead rivers of LCL flowed through the street's and all around. Waterfalls of LCL fell from some of the buildings and into the pipes connecting the buildings. He looked in the other direction and saw another one of the Metallic Spiders moving towards him, in the distance he could make out the form of more of the metallic beings, they were harvesting the LCL for some purpose.

The spider moved towards him as he tried to move the Eva but he was firmly locked in place. It moved up to him and raised one of its legs and ran it down the Eva's chest. As it did so Shinji felt an excruciating pain go through him. It subsided and he looked out again to see the Spider had turned and moved back to join the rest of the metallic beings.

He looked around again and saw a sphere almost identical to the one that had attacked the ship before. It was motionless between some sort of gateway, it hovered for sometime until another sphere formed over it fully encompassing the vessel, the outer Sphere was completely Jet Black and looked to be another form of Dirac Sea, it vanished after some time along with the Sphere.

The sky in this place was not dissimilar to that of Tokyo 3 post Third Impact, except there were many vessels flying back around forth along the sky, most of them were Spheres, however there were a few Rectangular vessels among them. Another entity caught his eye this time, it was not dissimilar to the spider except instead of legs it hovered, it had a body similar to that of an insect. It hovered directly in front of him for sometime staring right through the Eva into his eyes.

Suddenly a flash of light erupted from the beings eyes as Shinji felt pain surge through him, he screamed out as loud as he good and began thrashing the controls of the Eva back and forth trying to move it and stop the pain. Eventually he felt himself slip into unconsciousness.

**Research Center**

John took a while to recover from seeing 'Adam' for the first time. Something felt strange about the boy, he was fourteen in appearance and seemingly human but there was something about him. The boy's appearance was peculiar as well, the bright red eyes were very similar to Rei's but the shoulder length silver hair was peculiar, the other strange thing that unlike Rei, the boy's skin was not as pale.

He shook the boys hand and turned to the Admiral.

"'Adam?'"

"Well 'Adam' is what we called him when he was in stasis due to the nature of how he was conceived, he has however chosen a different, more human name for himself."

"I see, it's good to meet you…?"

"Ichiro Tanaka."

"I see, ok then Admiral so what is this Genesis project?"

The admiral walked over a console at the far side of the room and brought up a 3D Holographic image of earth.

"As I've already said, we found something…some form of artifact, a huge lance to be precise and something else. A fossilized humanoid, it was huge. Anyway we conducted research on it, believing it to be some sort of ancient statue from a long lost civilization."

"And it wasn't?"

"No, we tried removing the lance from it but it caused a reaction within the giant, before we knew what we happening it was up and moving. A huge giant of light, it was like nothing we had ever seen before, we managed to get most of the people out of there but we lost a lot of people."

He continued on as the hologram changed to recorded footage of the giant of light, John looked at it closely. The shape and the way it moved seemed familiar to him, the story about a giant of light causing an event like that was also familiar. The Admiral continued.

"So anyway, we went back a few days later and surveyed the situation. That is when we found Ichiro along with the lance. Think of it, a human boy born from something like that, so we tried to harness its power that's why the colony was set up. The giant was reduced to a fossilized form and the lance, they're here inside this complex."

"But why are they here."

"Because that lance and the fossil hold the key to how humanity was created. We found more then that, a liquid running from where we extracted the lance and fossilized traces of early humans and partially developed humans, this thing can create life itself just as Ichiro there was born from the reaction."

"Create life? I thought ASPE outlawed cloning."

"It does, but this isn't cloning, this is much more an entire new species of human, an entire lost civilization brought back to life. That was the purpose of the Genesis Project and this colony-to be a home to this new race."

"And what is in it for us, what do we get from it trying to play god?"

"You're not seeing the bigger picture John, we're not playing god, we're just moving along a process that had already started."

"So what's the status of the project at the moment?"

"One hundred children all in stasis waiting to be awakened."

"One hundred? You can't just bring one hundred lives into the world like this, it's immoral."

"I understand your concern, but you're not here to debate if this is right or wrong, you're here to become Ichiro's guardian."

"Guardian?"

"Yes, guardian. The truth is John, we don't know when the other children will awaken or if they will but we can't keep Ichiro here forever but we can't have him in the colonies on his own. The only suitable place is your ship, you told me there are children already on there so it's a perfect fit."

"I understand that but it's a bit sudden, I mean..."

"You seem to think you have a choice in the matter, now I don't want to make this an order but I will if need be."

"Yes sir."

John looked over at the boy and then back to the Admiral who was now in discussion with one of the Scientists in the room preparing Ichiro for transport to the ship. He looked at the holographic image in front of him, the admiral had changed it to an image of the research facility they were currently in. John switched it back to the image of the light giant suddenly realizing where he had seen it before.

"Eva…"

**Unknown Ship**

"There has been yet another change of plan. The attacks of the first planet are growing more intense, they have access to technology far beyond them. We most speed up the process."

The man spoke to two of his associates whilst still staring out of the window at the space-born city. Beside him was a screen showing the image of an eight sided room with the same three orbiting sphere configuration in the center as was in the room the man was currently standing in. One of the other men spoke

"Agreed, it will be some time until we are ready to converge in normal space again but we will be near the Aluka Research facilities as ordered."

"Good, the next stage will be getting the child there, which should not be too difficult. We do however have some good news I have just been informed."

"Sir?"

"One of the seeds survived and has spawned another child just like the girl, this time when we open the gateway it will be much stronger then before, we will enter Aluka and from that moment everything will change."

"There is the situation with the first planet to consider, we tracked down that group and found out they were not acting alone. It would seem Aluka has security devices, a virus of sorts, when we activated this process it lied dormant on the first planet until the first seed was active and then it spread from there."

"How did we not detect this?"

"It was clever, it disguised itself as a computer virus in nanomachines on the planet, once these were inserted into a person they took over that person and turned them into hybrids or cyborgs. Once this virus spread to every person it turned them into the substance except that substance is now used to power humanoid shells. If the virus can spread then we are not safe either, despite our heightened abilities."

"I see, then I believe it is time to activate the arc. I will not have something like this stopping us from reaching out goal."

"Understood."

The other two men exited the room and he continued to glance out at the city. Ships were moving back and forth between the buildings. In the center was a large empty space with 4 walkways stretching out to the center leaving space for another object. He glanced at this open space and smiled slightly.

"Oh yes, from this moment on everything will change."

**Command Center**

"Ok Asuka, I want an explanation."

"An explanation for what?"

"You know what for, you disobeyed my orders and risked your life when I told you that help was on the way."

"Oh come on, you really think a few of those shuttles would have helped, besides he's fine and I'm fine, what's the issue here?"

"The issue is you lost control of your Eva, you're lucky we were able to shut it down or who knows what would have happened."

"We defeated the enemy and everyone's safe isn't that what's important, I don't see why you're making a big deal of this."

Misato had to restrain herself from slapping Asuka because of that comment. She instead decided to take a different approach.

"Look Asuka, it's not about everyone being fine. I just don't want to lose you and Shinji. Please don't disobey my orders next time without at least telling me what you're going to do first."

"Okay fine, can I go now?"

"Ok sure, where are you going though?"

"I'm going to visit Shinji, I thought he might like to see the person who rescued him."

"Fine, tell him I'll be along later. I have things to do."

When Asuka's back was turned Misato grabbed hold of Asuka's comm. device and switched it on. Just as Asuka was about to leave Misato called her back.

"Hey Asuka, don't forget this."

_She is going to kill me if she finds out what I've done, but I need to see if my theory is correct, besides this'll teach her not to disobey my orders next time._

**Hospital**

Shinji slowly opened his eyes and looked straight up, he was waiting for everything to become clear and looked at the ceiling in shock. If he didn't know any better he could have sworn he was back at Nerv, the light above the bed was exactly the same as in Nerv.

_For crying out loud, is there some universal blueprint for hospital rooms?_

He quickly sat up just to ensure he wasn't actually back at NERV, he was relieved when he saw the advanced medical equipment in the room and the electronic doors. He dropped back down trying to remember what had just happened to him and how he was still alive. The last thing he remembered was being pulled through the Sea of Dirac and then being in some other place. He remembered it all, the buildings, the metallic insects and the rivers of LCL, if there was such a place as hell Shinji was sure it looked like that place.

_I wonder how I got back, all I remember was falling unconscious after seeing that insect thing._

His thoughts soon changed to Rei and Asuka, they had been getting pulled in with him but they mustn't have seen what he did. Shinji was about to turn around and go back to sleep when he heard the door to his hospital room opening.

"So, you're finally awake then."

"Asuka?"

"Who else were you expecting?"

She stepped into the room with the door closing behind her.

"No one, it's just I'm surprised you're here."

"Is that really a greeting to give to your girlfriend and the person who just saved your life?"

"Saved me? But how?"

"What do you mean how? By rescuing you from that sea of black goo you idiot!"

"I mean how were you able to get me out?"

"Oh it was easy, just took a bit of strength that's all, I'm not an elite pilot for nothing you know."

Shinji smiled at her and sat up, she came over and sat next to him taking hold of his hand. She hadn't told him the full truth about how she had saved him, it had infact been her but she hadn't told him that it was because she got the Eva to go berserk and literally tear through the sea and pull him out. She also hadn't told him how she had just came from the room next door after receiving a stern lecture from Misato for disobeying orders.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Tired and a bit weird, I saw something this time but I don't know what."

"You can tell me, besides Misato's busy clearing something up after my daring rescue so she won't be here for a while."

"The first time I was absorbed into one of those things it was just a vast empty space, but this time I saw an entire city, with loads of those spiders and other vessels moving around and entire fleets of those Spheres we had to fight, there was LCL everywhere, it was like something out of a nightmare."

"Well you're safe now but don't think you feeling tired is going to get you out of taking me out tonight like you promised."

"But Asuka I…"

She glared at him as he stopped speaking, she then giggled slightly, she moved in closer and kissed him.

"It's alright, you don't have to tonight. Besides Misato is working late tonight and Rei is also here so I thought maybe we could go back to the apartments and have some time to ourselves."

Shinji smiled back at Asuka, he was about to respond but was cut off by a voice seemingly coming from nowhere.

"_Time to do what exactly, Asuka?"_

Asuka suddenly turned very red as she recognized the voice of the woman speaking.

"Mi... Misato, you can hear us?"

"_Every word, I especially liked the part about your daring rescue, but we'll leave that for later. How are you feeling Shinji?"_

Shinji was now also turning very red at being found out.

"I'm fi-fine."

"_So how long?"_

Asuka cut her off.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"_Of course, but I'm also pleased for you two. So how long has it been going on for?"_

"About a week, just after we got back from that scavenger attack."

"_Good, I'll be back at the apartment later on. Don't do anything I wouldn't."_

Just as Misato finished, Asuka and Shinji could have sworn they heard other people laughing in the background as Misato spoke. Asuka now took the chance to glare at Shinji.

"You idiot, I thought we agreed not to tell anyone, and now because of you forgetting to turn off your comm. device Misato knows."

Shinji cringed slightly as Asuka verbally assaulted him, he struggled to try and respond and could only manage a week "sorry."

"_Actually Asuka, we have Shinji's comm. device here it's what we're using to speak to you. It's actually you who forgot to turn off your comm. device."_

This time is was Asuka's turn to cringe as Shinji glared at her, the embarrassment was not over for them as they heard another voice coming over the device, this time it was that of the captain.

"_Yes, and if you do decide to go back to the apartment don't forget to turn it off then because while we do enjoy this I don't think we're ready for that in the command center just yet."_

Asuka was now turning a shade of red that matched her plugsuit, she quickly pulled out the device and shouted down it.

"PERVERTS!"

She then flicked the switch off and looked at Shinji who now had a grin on his face.

"And just what are you grinning at."

He grabbed hold of her and kissed her before whispering in her ear.

"Idiot."

A/N: Well there's the conclusion, hope you all liked it. Please make sure to review and tell me your thoughts so far.


	19. First Date

**Hospital Room**

Shinji stirred from his sleep and went to sit up, however, he felt something pressing down on him. He looked down to see that Asuka had fallen asleep in the seat next to the hospital bed and was now lying on top of him with her arm draped across his chest. He gently ran his hand through her hair and just laid there for a few minutes looking at her face while she slept.

He was about to try to move her then the door to the room opened and Rei walked through. She curiously eyed Asuka and then looked at Shinji who was now starting to blush slightly. Rei stepped further into the room allowing the door to close behind her.

"Hi Rei, uhh…this isn't what you think."

She stared at him and then down at Asuka again, not fully understanding what Shinji was saying.

"I assumed Asuka had fallen asleep whilst you were holding each other, was I wrong in assuming this is correct."

"No that's correct I thought that, uhh…you thought that…"

He felt himself glowing red again and wondering just why he opened his mouth.

"Never mind, how are you?"

"I am good, Misato sent me to tell you that she wants to see you and Asuka as soon as possible."

"Oh I see, did she say what it was about?"

"No, she just told me to inform you both. Shall I tell her that you are both resting and will be along later?"

He felt himself blushing again, if Misato found out that Asuka had fallen asleep in his arms like that they wouldn't hear the end of it. Shinji already knew just why Misato wanted to see him and Asuka and he knew that it would go on until they got to the apartment and beyond that.

"No! It's alright. I'll wake Asuka up and we'll be along soon, just give us a few minutes."

"Ok, and are you also alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine now, thanks for helping rescue me."

"It is not a problem, Asuka was the one who did the most work."

Rei looked at Asuka again and recalled what had happened in the battle, Asuka had disobeyed the order to try and hold on until the cargo shuttles had arrived to try and lift the Eva's out of the Sea of Dirac and had instead forced the Eva to hit a one hundred percent sync ratio and then she pulled Shinji out herself.

"I must go now, I will tell Misato you will be along in a few minutes."

"Ok, sure."

Rei exited the room leaving Shinji to face his next challenge alone, waking Asuka up. He sat there for a moment before nudging her slightly.

"Asuka…."

The girl gave no response and instead held onto him tighter then before.

"Asuka, wake up…"

He again received no response.

"Asuka wake up, Misato needs to see us."

He nudged her a bit harder this time only resulting in her gripping him tighter. He decided he would need to go with another strategy.

"Asuka… I'm naked."

He grinned as the girls eyes shot open and she looked around the room.

"What…where?"

She turned and saw him sitting up grinning, the look she shot him for disturbing her soon stopped him smiling.

"Liar."

She kissed him on the lips and stood up yawning.

"So, what does Misato want to see us about?"

"You mean you were awake? How long have you been awake?"

"Since wondergirl came in, I was actually hoping to get some more sleep but you're persistent."

"Sorry, I ju..."

The glare she gave him stopped him mid sentence.

"For crying out loud, what have I told you about apologizing? If anything it should be me apologizing as if you didn't wake me up you'd have been late, and after what happened earlier we don't want to give Misato any more ammunition."

"Sorry I..."

She quickly lent forward and put her hand over his mouth.

"If you apologize one more time I am going to make this room your permanent residence."

"Ok, Ok, I'll stop, you're grouchy when you wake up."

She yawned again and spoke.

"Oh shut up, we'd better go and see the Drunken One and get it over and done with anyway."

Shinji was about to get up out of the bed but instead looked at Asuka who just looked back at him blankly.

"What?"

"Do you think you could uhh… leave while I get ready?"

"Oh god, I'm your girlfriend idiot, it's not like I won't see it all eventually."

He blushed immensely at Asuka's comment.

"Yeah but…"

She winked at him before replying.

"You're still very easy to tease I hope you know what, I'll wait outside."

"Thank you."

**Command Center**

Misato had made her way back to the colonies Command Center to inform the Admiral and Captain Frakes about the attack from the enemy crawler. They were both surprised to learn that an attack could have occurred on this world and began to question just how safe they were. A team had been sent out to retrieve the still intact crawler in order to study it and its systems to try and design a more effective defense against the enemy.

Both the Admiral and Captain had now left the command center but Misato had wanted to stay to talk to both Shinji and Asuka about the recent developments in their relationship and also to get more information about what had happened to Shinji whilst inside the Sea. She would furthermore have to tell them about the new addition to the crew, the young boy called Ichiro.

_There's something going on here, that boy looks too much like the 17th, if it wasn't for the hairstyle they'd be identical…but that can't be true._

Misato had been told that Ichiro would be assisting the other pilots in the case of a further attack, because there was not another Eva for him to use, nor were they sure the kid could even sync with an Eva, he would be using a specially modified one man shuttlecraft. It would mean they would be here for two weeks until the shuttle is prepared but it would allow the kids to at least be normal for that duration. Asuka and Shinji stepped into the command center together and walked over to Misato who just grinned at them both.

"Ahh welcome you two, hold on a few minutes, I've just got to sort something out."

Shinji went red and just nodded, Asuka simply glared at Misato. Misato activated the communications console in front of her and spoke out.

"Misato Katsuragi to the recovery team, what's your status?"

"_We're at the site and have the machine on its way back to the HQ. We also found a pilot."_

"Ok good, the Admiral said once you return just inform the Science Labs and we'll call it a night. Good work."

She yawned and then turned her attention to the two children.

"Lets head back to the apartment, Rei should be there by now. We can pick up something to eat on the way back."

"Pick up something to eat? You mean they have take-away's here?"

"Yes! And Beer, its such a great place."

Asuka simply shook her head and sighed.

"For such a civilized society you'd think they'd be beyond that sort of thing. Well anything's better than your cooking anyway."

"No, I bet you want Shinji to cook you a meal though don't you. Maybe give it to you while you lie in bed and you can eat it off of him"

Thankfully for Shinji, who by now was redder then Asuka's plug suit, Asuka decided to cut Misato off.

"Stop it, you're perverted…is that all you think about?"

"Only about 43 of the time but that's beside the point, we need to talk about you two anyway."

"Well, why can't we do that here?"

"Because I'm hungry and need a beer, let's go."

Without giving the two children a chance to reply Misato simply walked off and the two of them followed her. Shinji muttered slightly.

"Food and Beer, that's what she thinks of the other 57 of the time."

**Misato's Apartment**

The three of them arrived back at the apartment about twelve minutes later, Misato clutching a six-pack of beer and Shinji & Asuka holding the food they had just gotten from a nearby take-away. They all entered and took their shoes off, noticing that Rei was already in. Misato called out when they were in.

"We're home."

They entered the main living area and Misato put the six pack down on the table, Shinji and Asuka went into the kitchen to get the food ready. Rei was already inside the living area reading a book with PenPen sitting next to her, also apparently looking at the book.

"Rei, could you go and help Asuka get the food ready and tell Shinji to come here I want to speak to him?"

"Yes."

Rei put her book down and went off into the kitchen to give Shinji the message. As she did so, Misato went over and patted PenPen on the head. A few more moments passed and then Shinji entered the room.

"You wanted to speak to me?"

"Yeah, it's quite important. Let's go into my room for a bit more privacy."

"Uhh…Ok."

They both moved into Misato's room and Misato sat him down on the bed and closed the door.

"So how long have you and Asuka been going out?"

"About a week, after we came back from the scavenger ship. She came to see me and we both told each other how we felt."

"I'm really happy for you both, I know I've teased you both a lot but I really am pleased for you both. You're perfect for each other."

He just nodded slightly.

"So what did you want to speak to me about?"

"It's about what happened today during the battle. First of all I want to apologize for sending you out like that and for what happened."

She sat down beside him and put her arm around him.

"If you don't want to pilot again it's…"

"Its fine Misato I don't mind. It's not your fault it happened and I don't mind piloting now, it's not painful like before because now I have a reason to do it."

"I see, well as long as you're okay with it. So anyway about you and Asuka, have you well…?"

She winked at him as his face turned bright red for about the twelfth time today.

"Misato! Asuka is right, you are perverted!"

"I'm only joking Shinji, you really are easy to tease. So are you happy together?"

"Yeah, it's just we didn't really want anyone to find out yet."

She looked fairly hurt by this.

"What, not even me? How come?"

"Because we knew what your reaction would be and we just wanted to wait for the right time."

"I see and have you been on any dates yet?"

"No."

"Why?"

"It's a bit difficult really what with us having spent all the time since we got together on a starship. I've been trying to plan something for when we come here but I don't know anything about this place."

"You see, that's why you should have told me sooner, I have the perfect idea. I'll tell you tomorrow though. First let's eat."

**Science Labs**

The Science labs were fairly empty except for a few of the head scientists and Admiral Takahashi. They were currently discussing the results of tests on what appeared to be the pilot of the machine that attacked them earlier. In the center of the room was a large operating table with the pilot laid on top. The pilot was a male and was wearing a black plug-suit not dissimilar to that that the Eva pilots would wear. Half of the pilots face was covered with some sort of mask, on the mask was a tube running from where the mouth would be, round to the pilot's neck. On the top of the pilot's head were a series of small sockets for something to connect to.

"Admiral, I think you had better take a look at this."

The chief scientist and Admiral moved over to the pilot and stood over him.

"So, this is the pilot?"

"It would appear so, he was found in what appeared to be the cockpit of that machine. Our original intent was to perform an autopsy on the pilot, however we were unable to."

"Why not?"

"It would seem our pilot is in fact a machine itself."

"A machine?"

"Well a hybrid to be exact, if you take a look at the head you will see small sockets. We believe those are some sort of recharging bay for the shell as we are now calling it."

"I see, so what were you able to find."

"Nothing at the moment, we are working on a way of interfacing with it but it's a long shot and even if we do manage to, we don't know what it will achieve. However I did mention it's not all machine and is in fact a hybrid."

"I don't understand?"

"The more common term would be a cyborg, however our definition of cyborg would be a man who has technological enhancements. This appears to be a machine with organic components built into it, what the purpose of these organic components is we don't know, but we have been able to extract a liquid from them. We ran a test on the liquid and found it to be the same liquid we discovered from the fossil for the Genesis Project and the same liquid that flows through 'Adam's' veins."

"I see, Captain Frakes mentioned them finding a liquid when they were attacked and mentioning it matched that used in the Eva's entry plugs. I think they call it LCL but what's the reason for it to be used here?"

"We're not sure yet, but that's not all we found. We also found traces of nanomachines. I'm not a fan of guessing but I'd have to say that these hybrids were once just like us and then something happened, some sort of accident and now they're the way they are, a combination of the shell, LCL and nanomachines."

"Okay, so when can you find out more?"

"We will run more tests, if possible I'd like access to the Eva's. The main question is why are they targeting us?"

"I don't think Captain Frakes will have a problem with that. You don't think this has something to do with the Genesis Project do you? The scripture we found mentioned something about certain tests."

"I do not believe so, the fossil is no longer on Earth and the second Apostle has been destroyed, the remaining apostles have nothing to go to. We are safe from them here."

"Good, I don't want any problems. The first child is in custody of Captain Frakes and as soon as this is over we will send them on a mission away from here, he already knows too much as it is."

"Has he asked any questions about the project?"

"Not yet, he doesn't know the full purpose of the project yet but as it is he is trying to take a moral high ground. It is unimportant anyway, soon we will open the gateway and everything will be perfect."

**The Next Day**

**Restaurant**

"Wow how did you know about this place?"

Shinji just grinned at her and walked over to a table he had booked. It was an impressive restaurant. The previous night after Asuka and Rei had gone to bed Misato had planned the day with Shinji. He was going to take Asuka out to see a movie then take her for a meal. When they arrived at the colony they were all given cards with an amount of credits on. Due to the three pilots services to the colony they had received a large amount of credits and were also able to get into a place such as this. Unfortunately for them Misato had chosen the film. They were unsure of the films due to this being a completely different world but Misato had picked out one called The Rocky Horror Show, believing it to be a comedy. Although Shinji had appreciated the music he would never be able to look at a frankfurter the same way again.

"Well, how did you know?"

"A secret, I told you I'd plan out a proper date for us and I did."

"Yes you did and it's very nice as well, although the film was a bit bizarre."

"That wasn't my fault, that was just a random selection."

"Nah, I bet Misato knew what it was about all along."

She immediately clamped her hand over her mouth to signify she had made a mistake. As she did so Shinji's face turned to a look of hurt.

"You mean you knew that she helped?"

"Sorry, I wasn't going to say anything, I couldn't sleep last night because I had a nightmare about the battle so I was going to see if I could sleep near you again, but when I got to the door I heard you and Misato planning everything. I'm sorry."

"Its fine I just wanted it to be a surprise, turns out we both can't really keep anything secret."

They both smiled at each other until Asuka eventually broke the silence.

"Just don't expect phase three of Misato's plan to work out, you're not going to be 'getting lucky' at the end of the night."

"What? I… I don't… she was just jo…"

"I know, but it's too easy to tease you."

"Just for that I won't let you sleep next to me tonight."

"What, why…"

He looked up at her and smiled wickedly.

"Now who's easy to tease?"

"Very clever Shinji"

**Misato's Apartment**

When Asuka and Shinji reentered the apartment it's other occupants had already gone to bed. Shinji glanced at the clock.

"Strange, everyone's asleep and it's only ten."

"Who cares, let's go."

She led him into the living area and onto the sofa, she put her arms around him and began to kiss him deeply. He returned the kiss and they both sat there some a few moments making out. Shinji felt his hand drift down to Asuka's side as she removed her jacket.

"If you're going to get hot and sweaty could you perhaps do it somewhere more private, and also make sure to keep the noise down, Rei's sleeping."

They quickly broke the kiss and stared at each other in the darkness.

"Did you hear that?"

Asuka switched on the light by the side of the sofa and jumped as she saw Misato leaning on the back of the sofa looking at them both with a wide grin on her face.

"Sorry to interrupt."

Asuka glared at her.

"You were there all along weren't you?"

"I'm afraid so Asuka, but wasn't it nice."

Shinji frowned as Misato said the phrase, it seemed familiar to him but he couldn't think where from. He simply shrugged his shoulders and looked at Misato.

"So, did you two have a good night?"

"Yes it was very nice thank you Misato, what do you want?"

"Oh nothing, I just wanted to speak to you both. It's just that well I think it's time we had a discussion."

Shinji and Asuka glared at Misato knowing fully what she was going to talk about, instead they let her continue.

"It's just that I know you're both in love with each other, its just that are you sure you're…"

Shinji jumped up which surprised both Asuka and Misato.

"Hold on Misato, we weren't going to do… that. We're not stupid we were just… well…"

He looked at Asuka for some back up, she instead was looking down at the ground her face now very red. Misato was instead looking at Shinji and smiling.

"Oh good, well that saves me a job then, look in all seriousness I'm glad you two are together but I'm also concerned for you both and don't want anything unexpected to happen out of this. I don't want you both to make a mistake by developing a physical relationship too soon and spoiling what you have now."

Asuka looked up at her.

"It's alright Misato, we're both not ready for that yet it's only been a week. We were just… well you saw what we were doing. Surely there's no problem with that."

"No you're right, sorry. Anyway I'm going to go back to bed, I have a busy day tomorrow and they want me to help them examine the Eva's. You two will also meet the new boy they've added to the crew."

"A new boy? Who?"

Misato thought it would be best to not mention the boy's resemblance to Kawarou.

"No idea, he's a shuttlecraft pilot. Goes by the name of Ichiro Tanaka, they say he'll be helping out if we're attacked again."

Asuka cut in.

"But only the Eva's can handle those things."

"Yes but they're going to modify the shuttle with similar technology for him apparently. So you two and Rei will be meeting him tomorrow. Oh well, good night."

Misato turned off the light and retreated back to her room leaving Shinji and Asuka standing there in the darkness.

"A new pilot… why would we need a new pilot?"

"What are you stupid? He's a shuttlecraft pilot not an Eva pilot, he's probably just going to be providing ranged support that's all."

"I suppose so, it just seems a bit strange that's all, I mean as soon as we get here we have a new pilot straight away."

"Nothing strange about it, this is one of their colonies and they probably have loads of people here being trained and they just want to assign this one to the ship. Besides, with the invincible Shinji and Asuka Langley on the team he won't be in any danger, in fact we probably won't have to use him."

Shinji laughed slightly.

"You're right, anyway I'm going to go to bed as well."

"Ok sure, good night."

She kissed him on the cheek before continuing.

"Uhh…Shinji."

"Yes?"

"Can I uhh… can I stay with you tonight?"

He eyed her curiously as she continued.

"It's just I sleep better when you're near."

"Of course"

"Thanks"

**Next Morning**

**Command Center**

It was the next morning and Misato and the three pilots had returned to the ASPE Command Center in order to meet the new pilot. The morning had not been without it's events, Misato had caught Asuka sleeping next to Shinji but hadn't said anything yet. They had looked so peaceful lying in each others arms, she didn't want to disturb them. When they all sat down for breakfast she did give them both a knowing look but still hadn't said anything. She looked at the two of them now standing hand in hand in the command center waiting to meet the new pilot.

_They need each other, they feel safer in each others arms. I'll have to speak to them about it though I know they didn't do anything but I don't want them to feel they need to sneak about._

A few more minutes passed when Asuka finally spoke.

"So where is this kid anyway? We've been waiting here ages, I want to explore the stores in this place."

"There's plenty of time for that Asuka, they'll be here in a minute."

Then as if on cue the Captain stepped into the command center followed closely by a boy of fourteen.

"Misato, Children, I would like you to meet Ichiro Tanaka."

Asuka looked at the kid and was taken aback by how strange he looked, the shoulder length silver hair and red eyes, it was almost like a male version of Rei. She shook the kid's hand.

"Good to meet you, I'm Asuka Langley Sohryu."

She turned to look at Shinji who had turned slightly pale at the sight of the kid. Misato had noticed this as well. He too shook the kid's hand and introduced himself.

"S-Shinji Ikari."

_No… it can't be, but he looks so much like him._

It was now down to the final person, Rei stepped forward and looked at the kid. Immediately a look of horror went across her face. She quickly composed herself and introduced herself to him.

"Rei Ayanami."

_This is… this is the one from my dreams._


	20. Appearance

Shinji opened his eyes to find himself looking straight up at the hospital lights again. This time however the room was darker and he could hear the sound of fighting outside. He threw off his sheets and looked down to find he was in his plug suit. Moving off the bed, he moved towards the doorway as the sound of the fighting increased. Cautiously he turned the handle and stepped outside.

To his shock he found that he was back in the NERV medical facility, he peered out the window. Outside the sky was a blood red, however it looked nothing like the geo-front he had once called home. The buildings were all floating and connected to each other by a series of walkways. Various shuttle craft went back and forth dodging fire from what appeared to be the insectoid machines he had seen when he went into the Sea of Dirac. Below the building he saw another sea open and one of the Hybrid's Spider-mecha made its way through, followed by three more flying insectoids.

He watched as several new ships emerged into the battlefield attacking the insectoids using some form of guided missiles that seemed to tear through the A.T. Fields. As one was defeated it exploded sending LCL everywhere. Suddenly a deafening alarm sounded within the hospital wing, as it did so the building began to shake as Unit 2 launched itself into the ongoing battle.

"Asuka what are you… why are you fighting out there alone?"

Shinji turned and began to head towards the Eva cages, as he ran down the corridor he tripped over something, he turned and saw it was the body of one of the staff except he wasn't wearing a NERV uniform but an ASPE Uniform. His stomach heaved at the sight of the dead body, he quickly stood back up resisting the urge to vomit and instead began to move back towards the Eva cages.

Outside, the battle intensified as Asuka in Unit 2 fought her way through more attacks from the Hybrid Machines. Shinji continued running through the corridors of the hospital wing trying to get to the Eva cages. Along the way the corridors were littered with the dead bodies of fallen ASPE Personnel.

"_Don't worry Asuka I'm coming, I won't let you down this time."_

He finally got to the elevator that heads to the Eva cages, he stepped inside it and hammered the button to take him down to the Cages. On the journey down he suddenly heard Misato's voice blaring over the elevator speakers.

"Shinji where are you? We need you up there!"

"Misato, I'm on my way now. What happened? Where are you?"

"It's alright I'm safe on the ship, we don't know what happened, suddenly everything went to hell. The colony was attacked then all these other craft appeared and this huge sphere enveloped everything, we can't see inside. You and Asuka were trapped in the colony."

"Misato, why does this place look like the NERV Hospital Wing?"

He got no response from her, he repeated the question and again received no response. Suddenly the lights in the lift turned to a dark red as Shinji felt the lift moving down at a faster pace. The elevator came to a halt as it reached it's destination. Shinji stepped out into another corridor, an overhead sign telling him he was near the Eva cages. He moved forwards and then noticed another body on the floor in a red jacket.

"No... Not again. How is this possible?"

He reached down and looked at the body, it was as he feared it would be, the body of Misato lying dead on the floor. He rolled her over and held her in his arms, tears forcing themselves down his face.

"No... This can't be happening, I was just talking to her."

To his left he saw the form of Unit 1 and also heard Asuka's screams as she fought against the hordes of Hybrid's attacking her.

"Someone… someone help me… Misato… help me…"

He sobbed as he held Misato in his arms, his body not allowing him to move. Suddenly Misato's body exploded into LCL. Shinji immediately scrambled away screaming, he stood up only to be sent immediately back down as his stomach heaved and he threw up the contents of his stomach onto the floor. Somehow he made his way into the room holding Unit 1, only to find it covered in bakelite and unable to move.

"Why… why do you have to do this, what do you want from me?"

He screamed at the Eva, not even caring that it probably couldn't hear him. He slumped down on the ground again and curled up as he heard Asuka still fighting above him.

"There's nothing I can do, again. I couldn't save her."

He closed his eyes as tears continued to stream down his face and he awaited death. Just as he closed his eyes he was startled as a familiar voice sounded around the room.

"Shinji?"

"Father…?"

He sat up to find his father looking at him from in front of the Eva. Suddenly the room flashed and changed to a different form. Shinji immediately recognized it as the same room Rei had told him about, the 8-Sided room with the tank in the middle. Shinji found himself standing at the entrance to the room, his father glaring at him from the center.

"Father, what are you doing here?"

"You have a purpose."

"What do you mean, how can you say that?"

"Because you do have a purpose, you must protect them."

"Protect who, how can I do anything? I can't help anyone, I don't know how."

"Then you must find out."

Gendo then turned and walked through the doorway, out of the room.

"Father, what do you mean?"

"Father..?"

**Shinji's Room.**

"FATHER!"

Shinji's eyes shot open and he jumped awake soaked in sweat and with tears rolling down his face. The first thing he noticed was the light in the room was on, he turned and saw the other three occupants of the room looking at him. Asuka leaned in and put her arm around him.

"Shinji, are you alright? You were screaming in your sleep."

"I was just... I was having a bad dream."

Both Asuka and Misato looked at him with a concerned expression, Rei however stepped backwards and walked out of the room silently. She had heard Shinji's screams and known instantly he was suffering from the same thing that plagued her. The only question is why were these dreams affecting them and did they mean anything. She looked back into the room as she saw Asuka holding Shinji slightly. Shinji was trying to tell Misato he was alright now and that she could leave.

Rei waited outside the room for Misato to come back out, after a short while she emerged from the room closing the door behind her. She jumped slightly as she saw Rei standing in front of her.

"Miss Katsuragi, I need to speak to you."

Misato sighed heavily.

"Rei you can call me Misato you know, what is it?"

"It is about Ika..."

Rei was cut off by the sound of the buzzer on the door, Misato shot a glance at the door and cautiously moved over to it.

_Who the hell could this be at this time?_

"Wait here, Rei."

She moved over to the door and shouted through it.

"Who is it?"

"It's John, open up. It's urgent."

She opened the door and let the captain into the apartment, he quickly moved in and closed the door behind him. He was wearing dark clothing and looked as though he had just run over to the apartment.

"So, what can I do for you?"

He moved further into the apartment and glanced out the window nervously, before closing the blinds, plunging the room into darkness. Misato turned on one of the lamps in the room providing a little illumination. Rei had gone back into her room, leaving just Misato and the Captain in the Living Room.

"Hold on a minute, what is this about?"

"Sorry about that I just had to make sure we weren't being watched. You're the only person here I can trust on this. It's about the latest addition to our crew."

"You mean that kid Ichiro? What about him?"

"It's hard to explain, Ichiro is the product of something called the Genesis Project. Do you remember how I told you this colony was set up for people who wanted to leave my home world? Well I was wrong, this entire colony…all of it is a cover for something called the Genesis Project."

"The Genesis Project?"

"Yes, it's a project to create a new type of life form from some sort of artifact they found on my home world. Ichiro is the product of this, there is apparently a hundred more of these clones hidden in the research facilities."

"Clones? But I thought ASPE outlawed cloning?"

"Yes so did I but here's the thing, I saw something else when I was down there, the Admiral told me Ichiro was created after some sort of lance reacted with some sort of being…a giant of light. I thought it seemed familiar…then he showed me an image of this being and I recognized it."

Misato frowned slightly trying to think as she heard his words. Suddenly she realized just why it sounded familiar to him, because it was her that first told him about the giant of light causing second impact on Earth.

"You mean Eva?"

The captain nodded before replying.

"Exactly, but that doesn't make any sense, what would an Eva be doing on my home world over fifteen years ago and what the Admiral told me didn't make any sense, if this colony is supposed to be the home to a new race of beings then why have all the other civilians here that have nothing to do with ASPE? Why not just have a research center?"

"So how come you're telling me and not anyone else on the crew?"

"Because you're the only person I can trust. I don't want to bring Kira into this, she's too young. I can't even get in contact with Mike or Joanne and I don't know if anyone else is in on this."

"I see, but how are we going to find out more?"

"At the moment the research center is empty, I need to get in there and find out more about this Genesis Project and who Ichiro truly is."

"Ok, well I'll join you. Where is Ichiro now?"

"I've given him his own quarters on the ship, he's probably sleeping now. We need to avoid the sentry shuttles out there though. Sometimes creatures from other sections of the planet get into the town so people aren't allowed out after a certain time."

"Ok well we'd better go now, there is something else about this that doesn't add up though."

"You mean about Ichiro?"

"Exactly, when I first saw him I noticed it but I didn't think anything more of it, but then when Shinji and Rei saw him they both recognized him as well."

"Recognized him?"

"Yes aside from the hair, that boy Ichiro looks and sounds exactly like Kawaou Nagisa, the 17th Angel."

"I see, we had better get going then. Something here doesn't add up and I think it might relate to why we've been getting attacked as well."

Misato nodded and picked up her jacket making sure her gun was still in it, she then went over to Shinji's room and looked inside and saw Asuka sat on the end of Shinji's bed looking down on him.

"Asuka, I'm going out for a bit. Please look after Shinji."

"You're not going out drinking at this time are you?"

"No, I can't say…just promise me you'll look after him."

"Don't worry, I'm here for him."

"Good, you two are lucky to have each other."

Misato closed the door and then went into Rei's room, she peered in but noticed Rei was sleeping so decided not to wake her. She shut the door and turned to face the Captain.

"Ok I'm ready, we'd better leave."

"Agreed, what happened with Shinji?"

"Oh nothing, he just had a bad dream, that's why we were already awake."

John looked concerned as he heard this.

"He's alright now though?"

"Yeah I think so, Asuka is staying with him anyway. Must have been a shock for her to be woken up by the person next to her screaming."

"I can imagine."

With that the two of them turned off the light in the living room and headed out of their apartment and towards their destination, the ASPE Research Facilities.

Back inside Shinji's room Asuka was still looking down at Shinji. She knew he hadn't gone back to sleep yet and could see he was just lying there staring at the wall. Every so often she could hear him sobbing slightly but she didn't know what to do, all she could do was sit there gently holding his hand.

"Shinji…"

"…"

"Shinji, I know you're not asleep."

"Oh and you would, wouldn't you?"

She was startled by his outburst, but considering what had just happened she let it go.

"Shinji, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"So do you want to talk about what happened?"

"Not really."

"Well I do, so tell me."

Shinji sighed heavily and turned to face her, he didn't even know how to put what he had just seen into words.

"It was just a bad dream, nothing more."

"Shinji you were screaming in your sleep and shouted for your father, that wasn't 'just a bad dream'"

He sat up and Asuka moved further up the bed and put her arm around him allowing him to take his time in explaining what he saw.

"Everyone died…"

It was nothing more than a murmur and as soon as he said it he broke into tears again, Asuka held him tightly, not sure on what to do.

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone died, you were fighting and I was powerless to stop what was happening again and then I saw him…"

"What do you mean you saw him?"

"My father, I was trying to get to the Eva to help you but then when I got there it wouldn't move and he appeared."

They sat there in silence for a few more moments, the only noise was that of Shinji's sobbing. Asuka however wanted to know more about Shinji's dream, she needed confirmation of one thing.

"And then what happened?"

"He told me I…. he said I have a purpose, that I need to protect them and then he disappeared… again."

Asuka still wanted to know just one final thing.

"Was this in the Eva cages?"

Shinji looked up at her, his vision blurred by his tears, he wondered just why she was wondering about a detail like that.

"No it was in some sort of eight sided room with a tank of some sort in the middle."

He felt Asuka tense slightly as he gave the reply, he wiped his eyes and looked up at her. She had a look of shock on her face.

"Asuka, are you alright?"

She was immediately snapped out of it and replied.

"I'm fine. It was just a bad dream nothing to worry about, we'd better get some sleep anyway."

"Yeah you're probably right, thanks for being here."

"Don't be stupid, you'd do the same for me."

The two of them laid back down on the bed and Asuka put her arm around Shinji closing her eyes, the image of an eight sided room entering her mind.

_He's seen it too? But how?_

**ASPE Research Center**

When Misato and John finally arrived at the Research facility they found most of the staff had emptied out making it easier for them to move around unseen. They both entered the facility and stepped out into the main reception.

The facility itself was comprised of two main sections, the main science labs on the current levels and the floors above it. The underground section connected to the main ASPE Command center and was restricted to personnel of a specific rank, this was also where the Genesis Project was housed.

Due to the analysis being carried out on the body found in the hybrid mecha some of the staff were currently staying in the main research complex. This however was not much of a concern for John, the security in the lower levels would be much tighter and harder to get around. They would have to find an alternate route down as opposed to the more direct route of the elevator. The two of them moved forwards into one of the corridors of the complex and towards the elevators going downwards.

"Ok so here we are, now we need to figure out how to get down into the lower levels."

Misato looked at him confused, especially considering there were two elevators in front of them.

"Can't we just take the elevators down?"

"Afraid not, I don't have security clearance for the lower levels and even if I did it still wouldn't be a good idea. When ever someone uses them to go down to the lower levels it sends a log back to security. At this time of the morning it'd only arouse suspicion."

Misato frowned slightly when an idea hit her.

"What if we sent the elevator up and got into the elevator shaft, is there a way we can climb down?"

"Probably, but the only way to get into the elevator shaft is to be on top of the elevator itself so we'd still need to send it down."

"What if we jam the doors with something, one of us can take the elevator up and the other climbs into the elevator shaft afterwards."

"Good idea, ok we can use my pistol to jam the outside door. I'll take the elevator up and you climb down."

"Me?"

"Yes, when the elevator reaches its destination the person inside is going to have to get out and it's going to look a bit strange isn't it if you appear. It's not an issue if I go to one of the science labs because my ship was involved in this."

"Ok, but where do I go once I'm down there?"

"You need to follow the ladder down until you reach the only doorway there. There should be a manual release switch, this won't alert security as it is manual. Once in there, go straight on into a circular room, this contains the information on the Genesis Project."

"What about you?"

"I'll find a way down there, on floor twelve there's an entrance to a maintenance duct, I can probably get in through that way, but I need to go through the labs being used, that's why you need to use this way down."

"Ok, well we'd better get this over and done with."

Misato tapped the button to call the elevator, after a short while the doors opened allowing them access to it. John cautiously stepped inside and took out his weapon, he handed it over to Misato.

"Ok you'll need to make sure it's placed on the outer doors, or else the elevator won't move upwards. Good luck."

He pressed for floor twelve as Misato held the weapon out ready to block the door. She felt tense and nervous as the doors closed, sure enough however just as she hoped the elevator moved upwards revealing only darkness in the elevator shaft. She pulled the weapon out of the blocked doorway and forced open one side of the doors and peered around.

**ASPE Command Center**

"Admiral, you might want to see this?"

"Yes Commander Grant, what is it?"

"Our sensors have picked up something strange in orbit of the planet."

"Another ship?"

"No this appears to be a structure of some sort."

"Put it on screen."

The commander put the object on the screen for the admiral to view, it was exactly as he said, it was a small octagonal structure in orbit of the planet.

"It appeared just a few minutes ago, out sensors give no clue as to how it appeared. Should we send a team up?"

"No not yet Commander, keep on tracking it until we learn more."

"Yes, sir."

The Admiral viewed the object on the screen once again, it was exactly how he had expected, a room with eight sides. There was only a few more things left for him to do then finally the Genesis Project would be underway.

_So it has finally begun, soon we will be able to open the gateway._

**ASPE Research Center**

The shaft was dimly lit and seemed to go on for ages, to Misato's right were the ladders which she needed to move down. She was about to step across onto the ladders when she suddenly heard a noise from behind her. She quickly spun around and saw a flashlight at the other end of the corridor. She quickly tucked the weapon into her jeans and stepped across onto one of the rungs of the ladder just as the light shone directly onto the elevator doors.

"Come and take a look at this, something's wrong with the doors"

"What's happened?"

"Not sure, looks like a malfunction in the closing mechanism, the elevator itself has already moved up."

"Let's take a look."

Misato had begun to move down the ladder but she could still hear the voices of the two workers above her getting ever closer. She continued moving until she could hear the voices directly above her. The man holding the flashlight shone it around the elevator shaft for a bit, just narrowly catching Misato. Misato held herself closer to the wall praying that she wouldn't get spotted. Luckily for her she wasn't spotted and the two men exited the area allowing her to continue moving.

Eventually she found her way to the bottom and found the doorway to the Genesis Labs, she began to open the door using the manual release and just as John had said they would, the doors opened allowing her access. Clutching at her pistol she moved into the main area of the Genesis Labs. Cautiously, she moved over towards one of the consoles and attempted to activate it.

She cursed under her breath as the console asked for a password, a password which incidentally she didn't have and she couldn't afford to stand there waiting for John to make an appearance. Instead she glanced around the room, opposite from where she had entered was another huge doorway. Curiosity took the better of her as she decided to go and investigate, she tapped the panel next to the door and it began to move.

Clutching her pistol tightly she stepped inside, in doing so she immediately dropped her weapon and gasped in shock. The room was a spherical shape with a walkway leading up to a cylindrical tank. Underneath her she could smell flowing LCL. Clear pipes led up from the LCL beneath the walkway into this tank and into several other tanks scattered around surrounding the one in the center. The room was dimly lit but it seemed so familiar to Misato, as she continued walking towards the tank in the center she had flashbacks to when Ritsuko had shown her and Shinji a room similar to this containing empty vessels of Rei.

Slowly she moved towards the tank and peered in, to her relief aside from the LCL it was empty, she moved across to the other huge tanks only to find that these two were empty.

_But he was told there were more clones._

That was when she saw it, something that made her recoil in fear, the source of the LCL was now directly in front of her. Being held up by some sort of crane mechanism was what appeared to be the inner body of an Eva, this, just like Lillith she had seen at Nerv, had been pierced with a Lance. The thing that differentiated this body from that of Lillith was it's shape and also the fact that it appeared to be glowing white, almost as if it was a being of Light.

_No this can't be…_


	21. Scenes From A Memory

**Misato's Apartment**

Shinji awoke to the smell of fried food, he rolled over and opened his eyes slowly, the images of his nightmare still fresh in his memory. He got up, still in his pajamas, and made his way out of the room, entranced by the smell of the food. Just as he got to the door fear suddenly hit him, he paused as he put his hand on the handle.

"_Oh god, what if it's Misato cooking it?"_

His stomach rumbled in response to his thoughts and he cursed himself silently. He debated with himself silently about whether or not to go outside and face potential death.

"_It won't be that…well if it is Misato it will be that bad. It might not be her though but Rei doesn't eat meat and Asuka… I doubt she'll cook."_

Suddenly the thought hit him.

"_Oh no Asuka, I can't let her suffer alone!"_

Gulping slightly he opened the door and made his way out into the main room and towards the kitchen. To his surprise it was not in fact Misato cooking but Asuka who was standing over the cooker. Another thing which surprised him was the table was only laid out for two people, he immediately wondered where the other two occupants of the apartment were. He was about to move further in when Asuka turned around and greeted him.

"Hey Shinji, how are you feeling this morning?"

"Uhh good thanks. What are you doing?"

Asuka glared at Shinji then she looked over at the frying pan and at her apron then back at Shinji again. She stared at him a few more moments wondering how this person she loved was able to come up with such a simple yet incredibly stupid question.

"I'm…cooking…breakfast"

"I know that, I mean how come?"

"What are you stupid, its morning…you were asleep and I was hungry, do I really need more of a reason than that?"

Asuka turned back to the pan and smiled slightly, what she had said was only part of the reason, whilst she was in fact hungry, she could have easily woken Shinji up and got him to make her something without any question, however the truth was she felt a little guilty about pushing him around all the time and especially after last night, she wanted to make it up to him.

"So, what are you making?"

"Sausage, Bacon, Eggs and a few other things, you know a proper breakfast."

"Sounds great, but what about Rei, she doesn't eat meat."

"Well that's great thinking, but Rei and Misato aren't here. They were out when I got up."

Asuka took two plates out of one of the cupboards and began moving the food from the pan onto the plates, smiling happily as she did so. Shinji looked on anxiously, Asuka had never cooked before so he didn't know what to expect, the food certainly smelled good anyway.

Asuka brought Shinji's plate over and placed it down, she then sat opposite him and looked at him awaiting his response to her cooking. Although she liked to display confidence in everything and truly believed she was the best, when it came to cooking she knew that Shinji's talent far exceeded hers. She did however know that she was better than Misato, then again it would be hard to be worse then Misato.

Shinji took a bite into the meal as Asuka watched on nervously, not daring to bite into hers yet. He finished chewing the food in his mouth and swallowed and finally noticed Asuka looking at him.

"What?"

"What do you mean what? How was it?"

"It's great, I didn't know you were this good, how come you've never cooked before?"

"Of course I'm that good, did you expect anything less, and I guess I just never bothered before."

"Well, this is really great."

She smiled at him again.

_I wonder if I should ask him, no I'll wait until later it's too early for that._

As they both ate, Asuka couldn't get her mind off what Shinji had told her about his nightmare the night before. She hadn't mentioned anything about it to him but she had been experiencing bizarre dreams lately that involved being in an eight sided room as well. However, hers did not seem to be as vivid as his was, the previous night however she had not gotten any sleep after being woken up for fear she would have a nightmare like that.

She was convinced as well that Rei was experiencing a similar thing, Shinji had told her a few days ago that Rei was experiencing nightmares and Asuka suspected they were just like, if not the same, as hers. The only thing is it made no sense, if they were all having the same dream about a room no one had ever seen or visited then surely it must mean something. She was snapped away from her daydream when Shinji started speaking to her.

"Umm Asuka…"

"What?"

"You're kinda picking up nothing with your fork"

She looked down and noticed she had finished eating and for the past minute or so had been absent-mindedly picking up nothing with her fork.

"Oh… I knew that I was just…. Hey lets go out somewhere."

"…but what about Misato and Rei?"

"What are you stupid? They won't mind, we're going out with each other, they expect us to go out to places."

"Ok then, let's go."

Shinji instinctively got up and went over to get a jacket and his shoes, when Asuka called him back.

"Shinji, aren't you forgetting something?"

He walked back into the kitchen with his jacket in his hand looking confused. He looked down and realized what Asuka was talking about.

"Oh… I'd better go get changed"

"Idiot"

**Ship Medical Bay**

"There is definitely something there, but I can't explain it."

"Explain what Kira?"

"Well I performed the tests on Rei just like you asked Misato, and physically she is fine but there is some sort of mental contamination there, however where it came from I cannot say. I'll need to run more tests to get a better idea."

"What about Shinji and Asuka, can we run the tests on them as well?"

"Yes, but I don't see a reason. Their DNA is fully human as opposed to Rei."

"I know, it's just something happened to Shinji last night."

"I see and you think it might be the same thing?"

"Well maybe, it's just he woke up screaming last night and I've never heard him like that before, and when Rei told me she had been having vivid nightmares I wasn't sure."

"I see, but given what you have told me about Shinji it's not really a surprise. In fact I'd expect it"

"I know that it's just well, Shinji's been happy lately as has Asuka. I've never seen them so happy so it's just a bit weird that this would happen so suddenly."

"I'll run the tests if you can get them in, it'd be quicker if I could use the ASPE facilities here though."

As soon as the words left Kira's lips the Captain turned around suddenly and called over.

"No, we'll do them on the ship. We don't need to involve ASPE."

"I see."

Kira at this point was rather confused, she had been awakened at an early hour by both the Captain and Misato asking for tests to be ran on Rei without a good reason why and now they wanted her to run the same tests on Asuka and Shinji. Of course she didn't mind doing so and didn't really have a choice because John was her Captain, she just wished she knew the reason for doing so.

On the other hand John was not exactly happy about having to withhold the information from her, but after what he and Misato had learnt last night he didn't want to risk involving Kira. Kira went back into the medical bay to continue her work leaving Misato and the Captain to discuss what had happened.

"So what do you think Misato?"

"About what?"

"About the results?"

"Looks like our theory was correct, but what I don't understand is why. We both saw the records and it said nothing about this. What about the object, did it appear?"

"I had the ship run a short range sensor sweep, said it was to test vital systems and I wasn't able to detect anything except a few training shuttles."

Misato simply glared down at the floor unsure of just what was going to happen. Her main concern was finding out what was wrong with Rei, from what they had seen on the ASPE records and from what Rei had told them it was clear that she was now somehow involved but unlike with Instrumentality she did not have any idea about her involvement.

"So what do we do now? If the Admiral plans on opening the gateway soon we don't have much time left."

"We need to wait for Kira to run the tests on Shinji and Asuka to see if they have the same thing, then we'll go from there. We can't allow them to do this though if they are successful in opening the gateway we both know what will happen."

"I'll get Asuka and Shinji here as soon as possible then, I'll tell them we need to run a sync test then we'll run the other set of tests on them."

**Misato's Apartment**

Shinji was just finishing buttoning up his shirt when he heard Asuka knocking at his door before entering.

"Shinji, Misato wants us to head to the ship for a sync test."

"What? Why now?"

"How should I know? Wondergirl is already over there though."

Asuka shut the door and went into her room to grab her plug-suit to take to the ship, leaving Shinji standing alone in his room. He was not exactly looking forward to the idea of being near the Eva again especially after last nights dream and what happened last time. He knew it was illogical and that it was only a sync test but that didn't seem to help ease the nerves he felt. He walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out his plug-suit and tucked it under his arm and stepped out into the living area. A few moments later Asuka too emerged from her room, she walked over to Shinji and kissed him on the cheek before speaking again.

"Well let's go then, and then you can take me out for lunch."

"Uhh, ok sure."

Asuka immediately detected Shinji's fear about going for the sync test, she sighed heavily and then held onto his hand, keeping him in place.

"Shinji, what's wrong?"

"Uhh…nothing."

"Oh come on Shinji, I'm not stupid. I can tell something's wrong."

"It's just me being stupid, I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Look if it's about last night, it was only a stupid dream, nothing will happen."

"I know that Asuka, it's just I wish we didn't have to pilot, that we could just live normally without stupid things like that getting in the way. Every time I think I'm happy something comes along and tears it away from me, and I'm scared that it'll happen to you."

Asuka was rather taken aback by his words although she had thought the same thing herself at times, especially during the last attack. Even though they had only been going out for a few weeks the thought of life without Shinji scared her greatly. Shinji was someone who cared about her greatly and was the only person to know who she truly was, unlike the front she puts on for other people. She hugged Shinji tightly before whispering in his ear.

"Everything will be alright, and anyway if anything does happen you'll have the great Asuka Langley Sohryu protecting you."

She looked into his eyes and smiled until he replied.

"I guess so, and you'll have the invincible Shinji protecting you."

"Don't push it."

"Sorry."

She kissed him again then whispered in his ear.

"I love you."

**ASPE Command Center**

ASPE's Command Center had emptied, save for the Admiral and a few of the other higher ups from the colony. Some of them were Scientists, others were people who took on the guise of normal everyday colonists. The group as a mixture was predominantly male, except for one of the scientists and a colonist. In total there were about eight of them all working towards achieving the end result of the Genesis Project, each one fully aware of what it meant and what would happen.

In many way's they were a group remarkably similar to SEELE, they were manipulative, secretive and had no regard for other people's lives as long as their scenario was met. The main difference is that where SEELE shared their aims with the commander of NERV, namely one Gendo Ikari, this particular group did not make that mistake, instead they chose to develop a false scenario for the Genesis Project to keep people at bay.

Of course the scenario they concocted was not too far off the actual goal. The cover scenario was that of the guise of creating a new era for humanity, the actual goal would create a new era for humanity however not as people would think. The plans came around about fifteen years ago on the home world of ASPE. Around the same time on another planet, light years away, an event occurred known as second impact. As with second impact, it begins with the discovery of a being of light and a series of scrolls. The then Commander Takahashi discovered these scrolls and learnt their meaning, he entrusted them to a small group of friends and set on deciphering their meaning.

Around this same time ASPE discovered the being of light lying dormant in an underground cavern, alongside it was a huge lance. This is where the two scenarios began to differ, Takahashi learnt that the being of light Adam was the key to activating a location hidden from normal time and space, a place known as Aluka. He learnt that to get into this place he would need the being known as Adam and would need Adam's offspring.

Aluka was described on the scrolls as what many would think of as a promised land, a place where men become Gods and can reshape the world in whatever way they wanted to. It was around this time he began to feed ASPE false information regarding the scrolls, he told ASPE that the scrolls stated the being of light to be that which started humanity. That was when the Genesis project began, ASPE believed that taking 'Adam' to this colony and studying it there would be less of a risk than leaving it back on their home world. Takahashi was quickly bumped up to Admiral and the man in charge of the project due to his vast knowledge on it.

The project was not without its problems, a base was hastily set up where 'Adam' was, in order to study it whilst on the planet and also to work out how to transport the being. On the day of transportation an explosion occurred within the complex killing most of the people there. Luckily for Takahashi he had left just hours before in the ship transporting Adam. When they returned to the site that was when they found the boy who was given the name of Ichiro.

This was the second key Takahashi and his group needed, unfortunately the process would take fifteen years and that is where they are now. Fifteen years later waiting for the gateway to Aluka to open.

"So, this is it then?"

Takahashi smiled and looked up at the screen showing the eight sided object orbiting the planet.

"Yes it is, soon our scenario will be complete."

"And what about the loss of Earth, was that in the scenario?"

"It was not, but it was a small price to pay for what we will gain once we open the gateway."

"I trust we will not be facing anymore attacks from these 'Hybrids' either?"

Takahashi was now beginning to lose patience with the constant questioning regarding these events. The truth was that while the loss of Earth was not in the plans, the appearance of the Hybrids was expected due to his knowledge of the security system Aluka has in place.

"As I said when we started this, some things might happen which may deviate from what was in the scrolls, fortunately for us we have the Evangelions that Captain Frakes has on his ship."

"Yes, this Captain of yours, you mentioned you were having trouble with him."

"Nothing I cannot handle, he has learnt of the project but it is too late for him to do anything and besides he is still a Captain under my command, there is nothing he can do to stop us."

He paused for a moment and looked around the room at the rest of the group.

"Now that we have that out of the way I believe we have other business to attend to. Ichiro what is the status of the shuttle."

"_I am attempting to dock with the control center, I am experiencing some sort of barrier and my A.T. Field is unable to counter it."_

"I see, hold on for a few moments I will give you further instructions then. Your destiny will soon be fulfilled."

Takahashi closed the communications channel and began talking with the rest of the group again.

"It would seem now is the time to use the lance."

One of the females frowned slightly and looked over at him.

"Takahashi are you sure it is wise to use the lance, the scrolls spoke of an additional threat once the gateway is open, if we lose the Lance now we may be unable to recover it."

"I understand your concerns, but we have no reason for the lance anyway, not when we have the Eva's to rely on."

"We cannot rely on some children whom we barely know."

"You have seen what they are capable of, you saw how that Unit 2 tore through a Hybrid Vehicle like it was nothing and how it single handedly pulled the remaining Eva through the Sea of Dirac."

"How are we certain they will even assist us, they are loyal to that Misato, who knows of our plans?"

"Because their precious Misato will also be at risk, leaving them no choice but to defend us as well."

"Very well, the lance it is."

"Is everyone in agreement?"

The people around the room nodded and then Takahashi reopened the communications link.

"Ichiro, deploy the lance."

"Yes, father."

The communications channel was closed once again and one of the men in the room chuckled slightly.

"Father? You have that puppet of yours trained a bit too well Takahashi."

"He trusts us and that is all that matters."

**Ship Medical Bay**

When both Asuka and Shinji arrived at the medical bay they were greeted by an annoyed Misato who did not seem to be too impressed that they were twenty minutes late past the arranged time.

"You're both late, you were meant to be here twenty minutes ago."

"S... Sorry we just lost track of time and found it hard to find where the ship was docked."

"Ok its fine, just go and get ready for the sync tests, then while you're here we want to run a few other tests on you. Nothing major just a basic physical to ensure you're alright especially after what happened with the last attack."

Misato immediately went back into the medical bay not giving Asuka or Shinji a chance to complain about the other scheduled tests.

**Planets Orbit**

"_Ichiro, deploy the lance."_

"Yes, father."

The communications channel closed as Ichiro began preparations to deploy the lance from his shuttle. The shuttle Ichiro was using was a modified cargo shuttle. It had been fitted with basic weaponry and made to fit only one person. The major change in it though was that it was now capable of deploying the lance found along with Adam. This particular Lance was capable of cutting through any A.T. Field no matter what the strength, it was what Ichiro was going to use to eradicate the field surrounding the orbiting object, allowing him access to the room.

He tapped a few of the buttons on the console in front of him and the shuttle began to rumble slightly. Underneath the pilots cockpit a huge roar could be heard as the lance was deployed. One the panel in front of him the words 'Lance Deployed' flashed in bright red text. Slowly the shuttle began moving towards the object, as it did so the object's A.T. Field flared up once again this time, however, thanks to the addition of the lance the shuttle was able to progress through the weakening A.T. Field.

**Unit 02 Entry Plug**

Asuka got into the entry plug and sat down wondering just why there was such an urgency to begin this test. The door to the plug closed and it began to fill with LCL, she closed her eyes as the LCL filled up over her head.

"_Ok, Asuka same thing as always."_

"Yeah yeah, get on with it, some of us have things to do."

"_Things like Shinji?"_

That angered the redhead, she immediately launched into a tirade on Misato.

"Stop being perverted Misato! Some of us aren't like you!"

"_Ok, I was only joking, calm down. We're starting the sync test now."_

The test started and Asuka sat there with her eyes closed, concentrating on synchronizing with the Eva. Around five minutes into the test she began to feel a strange sensation running up her arms and back. She opened her eyes and studied her arms through the LCL.

_Nothing there, strange… must just be my imagination._

She closed her eyes again and the feeling subsided, a few moments later it returned except this time slightly more intense. The opened her eyes again, this time she rubbed her arms to make sure nothing was wrong.

"_Asuka, is everything alright?"_

"Yeah, just something a bit weird with my ar…."

She was cut off by a blinding pain in her head, she instinctively brought her hand up to her head and tried to stop herself from screaming out in pain.

"_Asuka… are you sure yo…."_

The voice was suddenly cut off just as the pain subsided once again.

"Misato? Misato are you there?"

She waited then received no response.

"Anyone? Shinji?"

Just as she spoke Shinji's name the plug plunged into darkness and the pain returned in her head, this time she did scream out in pain. She continued screaming out in agony and began clawing at the exit to the entry plug only to find an endless darkness stretching out all around her. The pain continued as she stumbled out of the seat and landed on a cold hard surface beneath her.

A blinding light flashed all around her as she knelt on the floor clutching her head in pain.

"NO, NO, GET OUT, NOT AGAIN!"

_Stay with me…._

"NO I WON'T, GET OUT!"

_Stay here with me…_

"NO! You're not here, this isn't real!"

_Die with me…_

"I won't, they need me."

_They don't need you…_

"Yes they do, Shinji needs me, as I need him!"

_Shinji doesn't need you, he only likes you because you're the same as him…_

"No, that's not true! He likes me for who I am!"

_It is true, so stay here and die with me…_

"_NO!"_

The pain in her head increased as various images flashed in front of her, she saw herself as a young girl in front of her mother's headstone. The scene changed again, this time to her young self standing in front of the hospital window looking in on her mother clutching the doll.

The light flashed again and showed various images, as it did so Asuka screamed out and burst into tears.

"Why... why are you showing me this?"

…herself slapping Rei

"No stop it."

…Unit 2 being destroyed by the Eva series.

"No please stop this, please someone stop this."

…The image of a doll hanging from the ceiling.

"Please…. Please stop this. I don't want to die here."

Everything flashed again and she found herself back in the seat of the entry plug, this time she could see the image of Ichrio looking directly at her, as if he was looking through her soul.

"You... you did this."

The entry plug returned to normal as she felt the LCL draining from it, Asuka brought her knees up to her chest and sobbed silently into her hands.

"S... Shinji… help me, save me please."

"ASUKA! What happened?"

Asuka didn't move as the door to the entry plug opened and Shinji stuck his head in. She wiped her eyes as he picked her up and out of the plug. He tried to set her down but she clung onto him like a baby clings onto a parent. She just stood there sobbing silently onto his shoulder.

"He… he was there."

"Who?"

She continued sobbing and tried to get her words out, it took her a few attempts but she was finally able to tell Shinji.

"That person from before, that other child."

A/N: Ok I hated writing this scene because I am a big Asuka fan and I think she goes through enough hell in the series, but I have to remember I am writing an Evangelion fanfiction and Evangelion is not all happy and smiley. Anyway it was hard writing this chapter, a few things I'm not too happy about but overall I think it was a strong chapter, so be sure to review and tell me what you think. This story is actually going to come to an end soon, a shame to like the 4 or 5 people who actually read this and a relief to many others I'd imagine. I'm going to aim for about 30 chapters, but it might end before then, I'm not sure. I know how I want to do the ending anyway.


	22. Return

**Medical Bay**

Only a matter of hours had passed since Asuka's incident in the Eva and now the young girl was sleeping peacefully in the medical bay, with Shinji watching over her and holding her hand. Unfortunately for Kira, she had had to sedate Asuka as the girl would not let go of Shinji after she had came out of the Eva. It was not something she had wanted to do but it had to be done to allow them to examine Asuka and then Shinji. The children had not yet been informed about why the tests needed to be ran but Shinji could guess even before the sync test that something was wrong.

No one else had spoken to Shinji since the incident to let him know anything, instead they had simply looked at both he and Asuka, all of them unsure of what to say. For Misato it was like reliving the same nightmare as before, just as she thought she knew everything, something comes along and snatches it all away. Deep down she wanted to reach out to both of them and hold them but she couldn't, she was just as scared as they were. She tried holding onto the belief that everything would be alright but after seeing a form of Adam in the ASPE labs and learning about the Genesis Project she couldn't help but believe that maybe there was no hope for them.

The Captain was also having trouble adjusting to everything that had happened. Just a few weeks ago he was looking forward to being able to lead humanity towards a better future as Captain of the most advanced Starship ASPE had to offer, but then he not only lost his home world but nearly his future. Just when he thought there was a glimmer of hope by reaching the colony even that was snatched away when he found out the true nature of the colony. The worst thing about it though is that he couldn't show his fear, he had to keep the stony exterior and act as if he had the situation under control because he believed the minute he showed any weakness would be the minute he would cost his crew their lives and he didn't want to be responsible for that.

Kira wasn't sure about anything anymore, she had had no contact with the Captain, Misato or the children until today, although now it seemed that whatever was happening they were now at the center of it. Her main concern at the moment was finding out what was going on with the children, she had no knowledge of the Genesis Project or the conspiracy within ASPE, instead she just wanted to try to live her life, put the past behind her and focus on her work as a Medic on the ship. At this time though she couldn't help but feel sympathy for Shinji and Asuka, even though she had only known them for a few weeks she had heard from Misato everything that had happened to them and now for them to find happiness and have it ripped away from them so suddenly, it was distressing for the young medic.

The only other person inside the medical bay aside from Asuka and Shinji was Rei who silently looked over at the two of them. She found herself in conflict, she wanted to go over and try to help Shinji but didn't know how. She also felt a great deal of sorrow for the couple's situation, she fought back a tear as she looked onwards and heard Asuka sobbing silently in her sleep. All of these emotions were unfamiliar to the girl, throughout her life she had only had one purpose and then she met Shinji who was the only other person to try and understand her and helped her understand more about being human. Then later on she met Asuka who, although Asuka took an immediate dislike to Rei, helped her in her final decision to give up being a doll and an instrument for Gendo's sadistic plan and help Shinji.

_I do not understand these feelings, why does seeing Ikari and Sohryu like this affect me in this way?_

Outside the room the three adults were deep in conversation about what was to be done about the children's situation. Kira was explaining about what she had found during the tests on the three of them.

"All three have the same mental contamination however it's only just started to develop in Asuka and Shinji."

Misato looked at her quizzically and responded immediately."

"What about Rei?"

"As far as I can tell it's been developing in Rei since the incident in Tokyo 3. It might have developed faster in Rei because of her genetic makeup, as for Shinji and Asuka it seemed to start around the same time for both of them, as if something triggered it."

As soon as Kira mentioned the theory of something triggering the development an idea began to form in her mind as to just how this happened. However first she needed to know a few more things, the Captain was just finishing up checking over the data collected during Unit 2's test. She was about to ask him about his findings when his communicator started beeping. He quickly moved into another room to answer the call and left the data pad with Misato. She glanced at it and shook her head slightly, Kira noticed this and shot her a quizzical look.

"What is it?"

"That data from Unit 2's sync test, I don't understand it."

"How do you mean?"

"Well the Magi were active and recording the sync ratios for Asuka but according to this Unit 2 or its plug system wasn't even active for any of the test."

"But that... that's impossible, we saw her sync rate at a steady 72, if it wasn't for Unit 2 then what was it for."

Misato glanced at the data again trying to find something she might have missed previously but it was there just as clearly, Unit 2 was not active at any time during the test. Even with what she knew about the Genesis Project something here was not adding up, the Genesis Project was to open a gateway to paradise through Adam, the three pilots should not be involved in anyway.

"I don't know, but I bet your Admiral has an idea."

"Admiral Takahashi? But why would he know anything and what does he have to do with this?"

**Unknown Ship**

The two associates were meeting once again in their darkened room, both examining a screen displaying a configuration of four connected octagonal rooms, each one with a walkway leading to an empty space in the center. In each of these rooms, three circular objects could be seen orbiting each other.

"The final piece has appeared in orbit around their colony, we have begun preparations to move into their space as soon as possible."

"Excellent news, how did you locate it so quickly?"

"We were able to extract the location from the memories of one of the children. We also had to disable one of the other children there as they were attempting to enter the chamber."

"Good, mobilize a fleet on both sides of the planet and begin moving troops to the surface. Make sure they are well hidden, we do not want to make ourselves known until the ideal moment."

He paused for a moment as a section of the floating fortress in front of him vanished from view. He smiled as the planet they were orbiting began to phase out as well.

"Also, deploy turrets around our labs just in case our Hybrid friends decide to stick their noses in as well."

"Yes, Sir."

The associate made his way out, leaving his commanding officer in the room still gazing out at the various parts of the fortress which were fading out. He stepped out of the darkness and into the light for the first time whilst observing this. He was wearing a darkened uniform with an octagonal logo on it. This was a mark of an empire, simply known as the collective, this man had no name just like the rest of the people within the collective, instead he was simply known as the leader.

Thousands of years ago the Collective were a large empire spreading across several star systems. Having reached the peak of their civilization they learned of a place from one of their ancient legends known as Aluka. The story was the same as the one ASPE had learned of, the concept of the Promised Land that would allow those who entered to become Gods. The people of the collective had thrown away religious concepts in favor of technological advancement. This was up until one day in one of the collectives many military establishments' scientists were able to open up a rift in space which appeared to be very similar to the one explained in the Aluka legend. Immediately, more bases were set up to try and recreate this effect however none were successful in opening the gateway for more than a few seconds at a time.

This was when one scientist had the idea of instead of using members of their species to try and open the gateway to create a new species, this lead to the creation of what is now known as Adam. The theory proved correct as they were able to open the gateway for a much longer time, however on the day of the opening a civil war broke out within the collective which lead to the deaths of many of the people within them and only about a hundred or so survived, however to escape they had to enter Aluka and instead of achieving the powers of Gods as they expected they arrived back where they were with no memory of what happened during that time, only on their return it was a thousand years beyond that point.

With only a few hundred survivors and the Adam prototype the people desperately tried to re-open the gateway only to find the Adam prototype would not work and had began to spawn its own species to be later known as the angels. This prototype was dumped on a distant planet and was forgotten about. As more 'Adams' were created, each one was accompanied by a second being to be known as 'Lillith'. Lillith had a different genetic make up to Adam, however they were unsuccessful with all further attempts as the two beings broke out into a war of their own. As the war of the two angels went on, the Collective began to notice the effects the two Angels had when dead and began to construct a new scenario to open Aluka. Instead of them using the power they would manipulate the species that were created from Adam and Lillith to do it, the species dubbed humanity.

This lead to the destruction of all but three of each angel, an Adam and Lillith were sent to three separate planets, each with three separate manuscripts depicting events that were to happen in the future for the dominant species to discover. This was known as the Tri-Earth project. The Tri Earth project however would take thousands more years so, in order for the collective to achieve this they were able to develop trans-dimensional technology which would allow them to continue existing but in another dimension of time and space where time moved at a different rate. Thanks to the technological advancements in cryogenics and in technological implants, the members of the collective were able to prolong their lives in order to see their plan through.

Unfortunately for the collective, Aluka had its own form of security, a system of tiny machines known as nanites. They could get into the bloodstream of any species and in effect assimilate them, this is what caused the civil war to break out in the first attempt and thousands of years later led to the creation of what is known as the Hybrids. This time however the Collective were ready for everything, they had constructed the scenario down to the deepest detail, accounting for deviations and were now awaiting the right time to put their plan into effect. Once they entered the gateway they would re-establish their empire and bring back all those lost from the last attempt.

**Captain's Quarters**

John sat down behind his desk and switched on the communications monitor. On the screen the face of Admiral Takahashi appeared looking slightly angry. John had to admit it, he had expected this to happen, he had known full and well his activities in the labs the other night would not have gone unnoticed and also his snooping through the ASPE archives would have been discovered and he had already began to prepare his defense.

"Admiral Takahashi, what can I do for you?"

"_I think you already know why I am making this communication Captain, we already know that you and your friend found Adam and found out about the true nature of the Genesis Project, however we have let it go because there is nothing you can do."_

"I see, well if you have no problem why are you contacting me?"

"_As I said, I think you already know. About half an hour ago we sent a shuttle craft up containing Ichiro for training. We then lost contact with said shuttle for a period of time and then when we re-established contact the pilot was unconscious and one of the components of the shuttlecraft was missing."_

"And just what does this have to do with us? If you can monitor us then you know we have been on this ship all day carrying out sync tests between the children and the Eva's, in fact we even have the logs to prove it."

"_Logs can be forged Captain, around the time we lost contact with the shuttlecraft we detected a power fluctuation from your ship, you do not understand there is nothing you can do, the component that has gone missing we can reclaim from you by force, it is just a matter of what is easiest, and what is easiest for you is to surrender, or we will attack."_

"I think you're the one failing to understand here Admiral, we have nothing to do with your missing component or your pilot. Understand this though, if you do attack we will not surrender peacefully."

"_Oh come on, what can you do? You have a medic and a woman not even from this world. You cannot win Captain, your other two crew members are unable to help you anyway."_

John recoiled back for a second.

_Does he know something about Joanne and Mike?_

"_Ahh I see you have not heard yet, when you arrived here and I told you about Ichiro I took out an insurance policy as I knew you would try something like this. You will not be receiving any help from your crew members, my men have already seen to that."_

"You bastard, so to keep me from doing anything you had them killed?"

"_Precisely, now I am giving you half an hour to comply with my request, otherwise we will attack."_

John simply smiled back at the Admiral, it was just like a game of poker and John had the upper hand this time. He had no idea about the location of the component and didn't really care but just in case of an attack he had one card left in his hand that the Admiral hadn't considered.

"You forgot one thing Admiral. You might have taken out the two people who can operate this ship and its weaponry but you forgot that I still have the Eva's."

"_Those children and their toys? Don't make me laugh, do you really think they can protect you? You have half an hour and if you attempt to escape within that time we will attack anyway."_

The screen switched itself off and John sat there silently for a few moments thinking over his next move. He had half an hour to work out just what to do about the whole situation, the most obvious thing would be to get the Eva's ready and prepare the ships defenses. John wasn't about to let himself and his ship be destroyed because of something he didn't even have. Rage began to build inside him as everything he had been through since his home was destroyed flashed through his mind. He looked down at his shirt and noticed the captain's insignia on his collar, he pulled the insignia off and laid it down on the desk.

One of the first duties of the captain was to his ship and crew, that meant keeping his emotions under check to ensure his crew still had faith in the captain. That was what he had been told in the ASPE academy anyway. He raised his phase pistol and aimed it at the captains insignia still laid out on the desk.

"Fuck ASPE."

He pulled the trigger and watched as the insignia was destroyed along with his duty as a captain and his allegiance to ASPE. He walked over to a cabinet in the corner of the quarters and opened it revealing two battle rifles and some chest armor. He knew he didn't have much time left and had to get in contact with Kira and Misato as soon as possible, first he needed to make sure that the Eva's could be deployed then he had to get Kira and Misato out of this system, then he would take a shuttle and take out ASPE himself.

**ASPE Command Center**

"_You forgot one thing Admiral. You might have taken out the two people who can operate this ship and its weaponry but you forgot that I still have the Eva's."_

"Those children and their toys? Don't make me laugh do you really think they can protect you? You have half an hour and if you attempt to escape within that time we will attack anyway."

Takahashi closed the communications channel and looked around at the rest of his associates. He, unlike the rest of his associates, was not concerned with the fact that the Captain was not being co-operative. In his mind the problem would be dealt with one way or another. One of the other men in the room began to speak.

"Admiral, we do not have time for these foolish games, we must recover the lance and proceed with the plan before anything else goes wrong."

"Patience, we cannot rush the situation, the captain will realize the futility of the situation and will then comply with my orders, there really is nothing he can do."

"You heard what he said though, he has the Eva's to rely on. You may think of them as mere toys but you have seen what they can do, they saved the colony in one situation."

"We were simply unprepared for that attack and didn't have time to deploy our defenses, I have a squadron of attack ships on standby in case the Eva's are deployed. Their power is in their so called A.T. Field, however our weapons are capable of neutralizing the A.T. Field, without the field they are powerless to our ranged attacks."

"If they are powerless then why don't we just attack now? They won't even have time to deploy the Eva's if we attack, then we can take back what is ours, or is there something you are not telling us?"

"I assure you I am telling you everything, you saw it just as I did a power fluctuation occurred on their ship at the same time we lost contact with our shuttle, when we re-established contact we had lost the lance. There is no other explanation, besides if we attack now we risk damaging the lance."

"And if we wait we risk them using it against us."

"We outnumber them, even if they do use it we will defeat them before they inflict any serious damage. Any troops that are killed are expendable anyway, they do not matter at this point."

The Admiral's words ended the conversation as he gazed out at the camera feed of the ship. The feed changed to an area just outside the colonies, as it did so Takahashi began to tap in commands on a console in front of him. When he finished typing, sections of the ground began moving to reveal an underground section just on the outskirts of the colony. Three more of these sections opened as fifty or so ships began making their way out and towards the docked B-Class preparing for attack.

**Medical Bay**

Kira had made her way back into the Medical Bay to examine Asuka one more time and then to wake her up, this left Misato outside still looking over the data from the sync tests. She still couldn't figure out why Unit 2 wasn't activated throughout the test, whilst the other two Eva's were. She wished she could talk to Asuka about what happened to her, but Kira had told her to let Asuka tell her when she felt like it and to let Shinji look after her to now.

She was about to make her way into the Medical bay when John returned, this time carrying two rifles and sets of body armor. She noticed he was no longer wearing his captain's insignia and looked fiercer than she had ever seen him in the weeks she had known him. She was about to ask him what was going on when he began to speak.

"Put this on and take one of these rifles, its beginning."

"What's beginning?"

"The chamber has appeared, Takahashi sent his puppet to activate it but something went wrong and he was knocked out around the same time as the incident with Asuka. I've just had Takahashi contact me he thinks we were behind it."

"You mean he knows that we found out about the genesis pro..."

"Yes he knows, he thinks we stole some component he needs to activate the chamber and wants us to return it within half an hour, or he'll attack."

"We need to stop him."

"No, I need to stop him, I can't involve you in this. I need you to get yourself and Kira to safety by whatever means necessary, take the ship or a shuttlecraft."

"What do you mean you can't involve me? You can't just go and fight them alone and besides, I'm already involved."

"I don't intend on fighting them alone, I know I said I wasn't going to do this but I need the Eva's to be deployed as well."

"I see, well if you're deploying the Eva's I'm staying here and helping."

"You can't, you need to get out, otherwise you'll be killed."

"And if I get out the children will be killed and I'm not going to let that happen again, as long as the Magi are on this ship along with the means to activate the Eva's."

"The ship will just be a target though, it's the first thing they'll attack, you and Kira can't operate the ship."

"No, but the Magi can, your engineer Joanne put something in to allow the ship to run off of the Magi's AI in case we were incapacitated like the last time."

The captain nodded knowing better than to argue with Misato, instead he put on the body armor and moved into the Medical Bay.

"Kira, what's Asuka's status?"

"She's still sedated, I wouldn't recommend waking her until we know the results of the final tests I've just ran."

"How long should it take?"

"Another ten to fifteen minutes, why what's going on?"

"We don't have much time, Kira go with Misato to the bridge, can you wake her up from there?"

"I can access the medical station from there, yes, but why?"

"Misato will explain, go now."

Kira left the medical Bay in the company of Misato, leaving the captain in there with Shinji and Rei looking at him both confused as to what was happening.

"I need you both to go to the Eva and prepare for deployment."

Shinji looked at him and then back to Asuka.

"But... wha... What for?"

"In half an hour this ship is going to be attacked and the Eva units are our best defense, I know your feelings on piloting but if we don't protect this ship then we're all going to die."

"I… I understand."

Shinji stood up but was immediately thrown down as the ship shook violently. John stumbled forward wondering what was going on.

_They can't have started already can they?_

He pulled out his communicator and contacted Misato.

"Misato what's going on?"

"_John you need to see this, everything is going to hell up here."_

The ship continued shaking as the two pilots and John made there way up towards the bridge, leaving a sleeping Asuka still in the Medical Bay.

**Bridge**

Misato and Kira looked out of the view screen at the image in front of them. Hundreds of ships were surrounding them, however that was not the part which caught there eye. The ship shook again as the sky began to turn a deathly red and a huge sea of dirac began to form in the distance. A flash of lightning tore through the sky blinding them both just as the two kids and the captain got onto the bridge.

"What the hell is happening?"

John looked out as another thing had suddenly appeared in the distance, this time it wasn't a ship or a sea of dirac, this time it was something that struck fear into everyone present on the bridge. Kira spoke out aloud

"Earth…?"


	23. Eclipse Pt 1

**ASPE Command Center**

"What is the meaning of this, Takahashi?"

Everyone in the command center had leapt up with their eyes fixed firmly on the scene in front of them. The Admiral couldn't believe it, he had expected some minor deviations here and there with regards to the project, but nothing on this scale. Everyone else in the room was shocked that they had been led to believe that everything would be straightforward, they would open the gateway to Aluka and then would achieve their goal.

Outside it was as if Hell was forming on the surface of the planet, cracks in the surface began to open up. LCL began to surge out through the cracks forming rivers and small lakes along the surface. Violent white flashes tore through the sky as it turned a deathly blood red.

The Admirals eyes got wider with fear as he gazed out watching his once peaceful colony turn to hell, around him the frantic faces of his group also looked on in shock and then back at the admiral looking for some sort of explanation. The entire complex began to shake violently as the power cut out, temporarily plunging the room into darkness and cutting off the visual feed.

"What is going on, Takahashi?"

The Admiral got up from his seat and tried to mask the fear on his face in an attempt to reassure the rest of the group.

"Nothing to worry about, I'm sure this is just a part of the process."

"You never mentioned anything about this, we were led to believe it was a straightforward process."

"Like I have explained, there might be some deviations, we will still enter the gateway as we were meant to."

"How exactly are we going to do that? We have lost contact with the only shuttlecraft on stand by, you have the rest pointed at that troublesome Starship of yours."

The Admiral thought for a moment about the problem, after a short while he came to a solution.

"Then I will free up one of the shuttles by eradicating the problem of the starship."

The power in the complex came back on, however the view screen was only showing an infinite blackness. Takahashi immediately contacted the fleet targeting the B-Class and gave out his new orders.

"This is Admiral Takahashi to the fleet, you are to engage and destroy the B-Class ship, Captain Frakes is a traitor to ASPE and this Colony and he must be eliminated, no one must be allowed to survive, destroy that ship."

"Nicely done Admiral, we have wasted too long with that pathetic ship."

The man was cut off by the voices of one of the members of the fleet coming back over the comm. system.

"_Admiral, we have a problem out here, it's about the B-Class."_

"What sort of problem?"

"_It's vanished"_

"Vanished? You mean you let it escape?"

"_No Sir, we mean vanished, it's been absorbed into a sea of dirac."_

"Well what are you waiting for, go after it!"

"_Yes, Admiral"_

Takahashi rubbed his head wondering what else could go wrong when the view screen for the command center flicked back into life. It showed the same scene as before, the cracks in the landscape, the flashes in the sky and the rivers of LCL, except now with one further addition to the landscape. It was barely visible at first but with each flash that tore across the sky it became clearer and clearer just what it was.

One of the Women in the command center was the first to mention it.

"Is that…?"

Another person added the next word.

"Earth?"

**Bridge**

Everyone on the bridge looked on in shock at the image of the Earth in front of them, Kira and John both gazed on, mesmerized by the fact that the planet they had seen destroyed right in front of their eyes had suddenly reappeared. For both Shinji and Misato it was more a look of confusion, neither of them had really discussed their home with the crew and vice versa, all they knew was that they both came from similar planets and were both humans, however both Shinji and Misato could have sworn they had heard Kira call the planet that had appeared 'Earth.'

This was impossible for them both, as they had left Earth or at least their Earth many weeks ago with this crew. This planet in front of them was identical to the Earth they had left but surely it couldn't be the same planet as the people from ASPE had once inhabited, that would be near impossible.

None of them had much longer to dwell on it as a shockwave was sent through the ship, knocking them all off their feet. Shinji felt pain surge through him as he was knocked back into the console behind him. He tried to get back up but fell straight back down again. Misato saw this and ran over to him.

"Shinji, are you alright?"

He felt a trickle of blood run down from his mouth and wiped it away with his hand and managed to get back to his feet.

"I-I'm fine."

Another shockwave tore through the ship plunging everything into darkness, this time the ship continued shaking. Shinji tried to stay on his feet by holding onto a nearby console, he yelled out in pain as was thrown towards the wall at the back of the bridge. He felt more blood run down from his mouth as he slowly got to his feet again, the only illumination was coming from the bridges emergency lights.

The view screen flickered into life again except this time it didn't show the scenes on the colony, this time it showed something completely different altogether, the ship had passed through a sea of dirac and this time into the Geofront. Shinji shielded his eyes as a huge light flashed through the bridge, as it subsided the sky around the Geofront had turned a deathly red and several Hybrid Vessels had appeared out of nowhere.

Misato got to her feet and looked at the sudden appearance of Hybrid vessels, she looked around and noticed Shinji looking on in horror. Both of the other crew members were slowly trying to get to their feet as the ship shook once again. Misato made her way over to the Magi consoles and shouted over to Shinji.

"Shinji, Rei get to the Eva's it'll be safer in there. Shinji get Asuka into Unit 2."

Shinji nodded and turned around to follow Rei to the Medical Bay when he noticed something strange. Rei was no longer on the bridge, she had completely vanished whilst everything was going on.

"Misato, Rei's vanished"

Misato hammered the console angrily and turned to face him.

"We'll deal with that later, get Asuka into Unit 2 then get to Unit 1."

"What about you, though?"

"We'll provide support, just get going quickly."

Shinji simply nodded again and moved off of the bridge, he felt sick with fear as to what might happen. He felt the ship moving upwards as he stumbled down the corridors towards the Medical Bay, his mind focusing on so many things, the reappearance of Earth, Rei vanishing, Asuka's safety and their own survival.

_Was my nightmare some sort of premonition; is this what my father meant by protect them?_

He finally made his way into the Medical Bay and noticed Asuka had been thrown off of the bed and was kneeling on the floor clutching her head. She noticed Shinji entering the room and immediately flung herself around him, holding him tightly.

"Shinji, what's happening?"

Shinji put his arms around her, trying desperately to think of the best way to put everything. He looked her in the eyes and noticed something he had never seen before from Asuka, she was truly scared, he could see the fear in her and noticed her trembling as she held onto him. In the past it had been him who had looked at Asuka as the person with the strength and confidence but now the roles had been reversed thanks to what she had seen in the Eva earlier that day.

Asuka didn't want to let Shinji go, she just held onto him much the same way she had when she had came out of Unit 2's entry plug earlier. She felt secure in his arms as if he was the only person she could trust in the world. She didn't care about piloting anymore or being in the Eva, she didn't care about showing weakness all she wanted was to just stay there in his arms and in his protection forever.

She looked up at him and repeated the questions.

"Shinji what's going on? I'm… I'm scared."

He gently stroked her hair to try and calm her down, this was something he would never expect from Asuka, what had happened in the Eva must have really affected her.

"Asuka, we need to get to the Eva's."

She looked him straight in the eyes and spoke to him softly.

"I... I can't pilot."

"Of course you can, you're the best pilot out of all of us."

"No I… I don't want to… I'm scared to."

"B-but I need you to Asuka, whatever you saw in there, it wasn't real."

Before she got a chance to reply he leaned in and kissed her, slowly they began to get deeper into the kiss, their tongues exploring each others mouths. Shinji felt his hands drop as they began to explore Asuka's body, Asuka began to do the same as they continued the kiss. They continued doing this for a few minutes, each of them just enjoying being in each others arms as their hands explored each others body. Asuka moaned slightly as she felt Shinji's hand move over her breast. She pulled away from the kiss slowly and spoke to him.

"Shinji we can't, not…"

She nearly lost her footing as the ship rocked again, Shinji was able to catch her. He noticed she still had a sad look on her face as they gazed at each other.

"I… heard her…"

"Who?"

"My Mother, when I was in the entry plug. She wanted me to die with her, then I saw that kid again, the one who had been assigned to the Captain."

Shinji lowered his head, not sure on how to continue, he knew that her mother was a very sensitive subject for Asuka.

"Asuka it… your mother doesn't want you to die. What you heard wasn't real, it was just like my nightmare. Your mother wants to protect you."

"D-do you really think so?"

"I know she does, but I want to protect you as well and I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Asuka fought back the tears in her eyes and kissed him again, she looked down at the ground and then up into his eyes again as she felt more confidence seep back into her, thanks to Shinji's words.

"Asuka I'm not going to let you die again, please trust me."

"Ok, I…I'll pilot then."

"Thank you."

They kissed again and when they pulled away they both said the same words simultaneously.

"I love you."

**Bridge**

Misato stumbled over towards the ships navigation controls and attempted to switch on the link to the Magi. As she did so she heard someone groaning behind her, she quickly spun around to see John slowly getting back to his feet. Blood was trickling down his face after being thrown into one of the consoles. He glanced out of the screen and saw the entire Geo front with the sea's of Dirac still opening.

"Help Kira, I'll get the ship up."

Misato nodded and moved over to Kira and helped her up, the young medic opened her eye's slowly and saw the growing battlefield in front of her.

"Kira handle navigation, Misato I need you to take care of the weapons and monitor the Evas."

Both Misato and Kira looked at him in shock, both of them had expected him to stay on the Bridge and assist in the upcoming battle.

"Captain, what about you? You can't leave us here to do this."

"I need to take a shuttlecraft back to the colony and stop Takahashi from activating Aluka."

"You're in no condition to pilot a shuttle, you're bleeding heavily."

"I'll be fine, just shoot me with some painkillers, if I don't stop him we'll all die."

"Captain, you do know as an ASPE Medical Officer I have the right to strip you of your command status and stop you from doing anything."

He wiped more blood away using his arm and smiled at her.

"It's a good thing I resigned my commission earlier today then, isn't it?"

"What? What do you mean? Why…and why is the Admiral attacking us anyway?"

Misato interjected herself into the conversation to answer Kira's question.

"Your Admiral is attempting to connect with a place known as Aluka. Once there, him and his associates will leave their human forms behind and will have the power of God's, Kira. They are trying to use an entity called Adam that is stored underneath the colony and a lance known to us as the Lance of Longinus. The reason we asked you to perform the medical tests on the children is because they are being affected by being in proximity to Adam and that boy, Ichiro."

Kira looked on confused, her entire world was crashing down all around her, she had lost her home, family and friends and now everything she thought she knew about ASPE and the colony had been proven to be a lie. A tear rolled down her cheek as the ship rose up to face the Hybrid Vessels. Misato continued speaking.

"It was known as the Genesis project, to try to silence your captain the Admiral had both Joanne and Mike killed. We need to stop the Admiral before he can connect with Aluka or all will be lost."

She buried her head in her hands and turned to face the Captain.

"I… is this true?"

He simply nodded.

"It's true, as much as I don't like to admit it, ASPE is now our enemy. That's why I need to stop them."

"But I can't do anything here I'm only a Medic, I haven't been trained to fly a starship."

"You can pilot a shuttlecraft though, can't you?"

"Yes but...that's different."

"You'll be fine Kira, I picked you because you were one of the best and I believed you were the best person for the job despite your age. Now I'm asking you to help Misato here because I believe you can do it."

She nodded again and wiped away the tears in her eyes.

"You'll have the Magi to assist you both, the ship has enough weaponry and shielding to sustain most of their attacks. You should be fine."

"Yes… Captain."

"Good luck Kira, and good luck you too Misato."

**Unit 01 Entry Plug**

Shinji climbed into the entry plug and awaited Misato's instructions, he didn't like the idea of fighting in this at all but he knew he had to do it to protect Asuka and the others he loved. He felt the Entry Plug move into the Eva as the view ports began to flicker to life and the command console appeared. Breathing deeply, he grabbed hold of the controls inside the entry plug and awaited Misato's word to release the Eva.

He wondered what Asuka was thinking all the way over in Unit 2, he had never seen that side of Asuka before. Of course they had briefly discussed their feelings about piloting in the past but he had never expected Asuka to ever act like she had done then.

_I wonder if it's because of what happened before we left the apartment._

His thoughts were interrupted as Misato's face appeared on the comm. panel in the entry plug.

"_Shinji Asuka,, I'm really sorry about this I know both yours and Asuka's thoughts about piloting and I know this sounds selfish but we need to send you both out there."_

He merely nodded as she continued.

"_We will try to hold off as many of the Hybrid Vessels as we can, your first objective is to ensure the Captain manages to get through the Sea Of Dirac that brought us here safely. Your second objective is to try to fight off the invaders. We don't know how many there are but you and Asuka should be fine. Try to take the fight away from the Geofront and up towards these coordinates I'm sending to you both now. There's something in orbit around the colony that needs to be destroyed. Maybe everything will end when you take it out."_

Shinji nodded again as the comm. channel went out. He opened the comm. channel to Unit 2 to give a message to Asuka.

"Good luck out there, Asuka."

"_Luck? We don't need luck, this'll be easy."_

He smiled as he felt the ships docking clamps giving out to release the Eva onto the battlefield.

**Shuttlecraft**

John climbed into the shuttlecraft and quickly activated it, he laid his battle rifle to one side and awaited Misato's message allowing him to launch. All the fear inside him was converted to sheer determination, he wasn't going to let Takahashi or the rest the group go through with their plan. He had sacrificed too much to watch people like that try to achieve the Power of God at the expense of others.

He readied his hands at the controls and breathed deeply, knowing full and well this could possibly be the last time he would ever get a chance of being in a shuttlecraft or on the ship.

_She was a good ship, shame we never did get round to naming her._

He cast his mind back to the original meeting with Misato and the children and smiled as he thought about how they were brought together. Two survivors of different world shattering incidents brought together by sheer coincidence, now they were both fighting for a common cause. Maybe it was his destiny to do this, maybe this was what was meant to happen, maybe they were meant to meet up and put an end to this. John had never believed in such concepts as fate or a higher power, but after all he had seen he had to admit to himself that maybe there was such a thing in the Universe.

He didn't have much longer to think about it as the Shuttlebay doors began to open and he prepared the shuttle to launch from the ship. He could see the sea of dirac directly underneath him and noticed that the same ASPE ships that were attempting to attack them were now heavily engaged in combat with the Hybrid Vessels.

_Excellent, that should make this slightly easier._

"Misato, I'm ready to launch the shuttle. Looks like we have company though, Takahashi's ships have joined us but as fighting the Hybrids as we speak."

"_Understood, I've began the launch procedures for Unit's 1 and 2. Launch whenever you're ready."_

"Ok, launching now."

He closed the comm. channel and began to maneuver the shuttle out of the bay and towards the sea of dirac, back to the colony.

**Unit 02 Entry Plug**

Asuka nervously climbed into the entry plug, still fearing what might happen when the Eva launched. She felt weak as the entrance to the plug closed, plunging it into darkness. She tightly gripped the controls and closed her eyes, muttering the same thing to herself over and over again.

_Please don't kill me… please don't kill me… please don't kill me._

She felt the plug move into the Eva unit and the LCL begin to wash over her, she gripped the controls even tighter than before, still muttering the same words. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself surrounded in a brilliant white light. She began to repeat the phrase quicker this time.

_Please don't kill me momma, please, please don't kill me… I don't want to die._

The light began to move around her as she tried to close her eyes again, except she couldn't, she was paralyzed there in the plug. She tried to scream out as the light entered her.

"_I'm not going to hurt you…"_

"Mama?"

"_I'm not going to kill you…"_

"Mama, is that you?"

"_You need to help Shinji, you are the only one who can."_

"I…but how?"

"_He needs you my child, we will both help him...together."_

"Yes, Mama"

"_I love you Asuka, my child."_

"I love you too, mama."

Asuka smiled as the light began to subside and she found herself back in the entry plug with Misato finishing off relaying her instructions to both her and Shinji.

"…_try to take the fight away from the Geofront and up towards these coordinates I'm sending to you both now. There's something in orbit around the colony that needs to be destroyed. Maybe everything will end when you take it out."_

She nodded and Misato's image cut away from the screen. Immediately afterwards, Shinji appeared and spoke to her through the comm. system.

"_Good luck out there, Asuka."_

She grinned wickedly and replied back to him.

"Luck? We don't need luck, this'll be easy."

She closed the comm. channel and readied herself for the upcoming battle with a newfound confidence. She wasn't going to die, this was going to be a battle she would win, along with Shinji.

**Battlefield**

It was absolute chaos around the Geofront as the Hybrid Vessels engaged the various ASPE Ships. Seas of Dirac began to open rapidly as more and more Hybrid Insectoids entered the fray. The ASPE ships split off into formations of 5-6 ships and launched attacks on the Hybrids.

A group of ASPE Ships engaged one of the Hybrid Spheres and unleashed a torrent of fire onto the Sphere, they quickly swept around it as it attempted to lock onto one of the ships with one some sort of tractor beam but it was to no avail as the ships spun around and unleashed another attack, this time taking the sphere out.

The B Class made its way towards the top of the Geofront and began to engage some of the smaller Hybrid insectoids, managing to take out a fair amount until another Sea of Dirac opened above them, bringing another load of Hybrid vessels into the fray.

Towards the bottom of the Geofront, the two Eva Units were doing their best to try and keep the Hybrid and ASPE ships away from the shuttlecraft the captain was piloting. Shinji was under heavy attack from a series of insectoids as they neared the Dirac Sea. He tried to fight them off using his rifle but they moved too quickly for him to target properly. Getting frustrated he pulled out his progressive knife and engaged the Eva's thrusters. He lept up into the air and took out one of the insectoids, slicing straight through its A.T Field.

He hovered in the air for a bit, trying to fight off more of the insectoids from reaching the shuttle. Down below he saw Asuka and the shuttle nearing the edge of the sea. He swooped down and plunged his knife into one of the Hybrid Spiders attacking Asuka as the shuttle disappeared into the Dirac Sea.

Immediately after the shuttle disappeared the sea closed up along with all of the other Dirac seas within the Geofront. Just as he tried to move forward, the ground split from beneath him as he engaged his jet thrusters again. He looked across and saw Asuka in Unit 2 doing the same thing. Both Eva's reached the middle of Geofront as the battle raged on. Most of the ships had left the Geofront and were now fighting in orbit of the planet.

Both Eva's tried to hover out but were stopped by a barrier of some sort as they reached the top of the Geofront. They were immediately forced back down towards the center of the Geofront as the scene changed once again. The sky turned a demonic jet black and the LCL on the floor began to flow even more freely then before. The entire Geofront began to shake violently as both Eva's looked around them trying to see what was happening.

Asuka hammered her controls trying to move the Eva, instead she opened the comm. link to Shinji to ask what was going on.

"Shinji, what's happening?"

"_I don't know, the Geofront's changing some how."_

She looked around and that was when she saw them, there was twelve of them in total, each of them identical and looking like a cross between a bat and an Evangelion. Asuka shuddered with fear as each of the twelve monsters raised their heads back and let out a mightly growl.

_No… not again, it's not possible, this can't happen again._

Asuka felt her fear rising as her and Shinji looked around the Geofront at the new beasts that had appeared. Suddenly a voice began transmitting to both the Eva Units over one of the comm. channels.

"_Pilots of Evangelion Units 1 and 2 please surrender, we are representatives of The Collective. If you do not comply, we will destroy you."_

She felt her anger rise as she heard their words.

"Surrender, and why would we do that?"

"_You will be eradicated either way."_

"Well if that's the case then I'm going out fighting."

Asuka raised her progressive knife and charged at one of the beasts, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Shinji doing the same. She engaged one of the units and drove her Eva's fist deep into the Units Chest, sending LCL Spraying everywhere. She quickly spun around and planted her fist into another Unit's head, closely followed by a kick to its mid-section.

Moving back to the first Unit she engaged, she quickly sidestepped its attack and plunged her knife deep into its arm. She held it there, watching the LCL running down. As she did so, she didn't realize another unit coming behind her, she spun around at the last moment as it landed its attack and sent her flying back. As she was sent reeling it followed up with another attack and attempted to sink its mouth onto Unit 2's chest plate.

Asuka growled and extended her A.T. Field, sending the machine flying back into another of the enemy units. She pulled herself up and became stable again and was about to move in for another attack when she noticed a siren flashing on the console in the entry plug.

"Huh...incoming object?"

She quickly span around and extended her A.T. Field, ready to deflect the object, as she saw it a look of shock formed across her face as she mouthed silently.

"Oh god no...not again."

**Octavarium**

Rei stepped forward and found herself in the same eight sided room from her dreams. She stepped forward towards the cylinder in the center with the three orbiting spheres and eyed it cautiously. Upon closer inspection she noticed just what the objects where, the object in the middle appeared to be the same room they were in right now and the three objects were…

"…Earth?"

"That's right Rei, impressive isn't it?"

She quickly spun around and found herself face to face with Ichiro, who was smiling at her.

"Where… where am I?"

"You're in the control center for Aluka, this is what will open the gateway. The Admiral wanted to use me to open the gateway to achieve his goal of evolving him and his group into a new plane of being."

"Why am I here?"

"You're here to help me Rei Ayanami, daughter of Lillith. I cannot allow this to happen, men should not have the power of Gods. I am sure you are aware of this, after all you have already seen something similar."

"…Ikari…"

"Yes Ikari, we need to open the gateway Rei, but we need to ensure it is Ikari who crosses the threshold. I cannot allow Takahashi to go through with his plan, it would cause too much damage to the Universe. With your guidance, Ikari can seal the gateway forever, will you help me?"

Rei thought about it for a minute, she could sense Ichiro was being truthful about the whole issue. She gazed through the windows of the room and saw the fortress from before with a huge war raging on outside. She saw the various Hybrid Vessels engaged in combat with the ship she had recently called home. It had been heavily damaged by the attacks by both the Hybrids and now a new series of ships.

"You're wondering who they are, aren't you?"

She nodded.

"They are the creators of the beings you know as Adam and Lillith, they created all this with the sole purpose of reaching Aluka. Takahashi has fallen right into their plans, now it is a race between them to reach this control center and enter the gateway. Takahashi does now know of their existence, they are a race known as The Collective, they too must not be allowed to get through the gateway, so I ask once again will you help me."

"… Yes…"


	24. Eclipse Pt 2

**Bridge**

Misato scurried over to the weapons control and activated the Magi, immediately the display flashed up, a Tactical Grid displaying all threats within the area. Towards the bottom of the grid moving away from the ship were the markers for Unit's 1 and 2. Misato gritted her teeth and activated the ship's phase cannons and prepared for the battle against the hybrid hordes. She targeted what she recognized to be one of the weaker Hybrid Insectoids and fired off a test shot. She watched on the view screen as the beam shot right through the Insectoids A.T. Field, taking it apart. Immediately after taking out the vessel several more within the vicinity turned their attention to the ship and began moving towards it. This was Misato's cue to call for Kira to activate the ship's propulsion.

"Ok, Kira, weapons are on, link the engines up to the Magi and let's get this thing in orbit."

"Sure thing."

Kira glanced at the navigation console and slowly brought it online, she had never thought she would ever be piloting the ship, her first priority was as a doctor. Her heart raced as the engines began to link up to the Magi and the same tactical grid then appeared on her console. Just as it did so, one of the Hybrid ships sent a blast directly at the ship, rocking it slightly.

"Engines are online and linked with the Magi, what now?"

"Now we survive…"

Kira's throat went dry as she heard Misato say those words. No matter how much she tried she couldn't get used to the idea that this could be the last time she would be on this ship. Misato looked across at her and noticed she had gone pale. Concerned about her, she shouted over to the young medic.

"Are you alright? Maybe you should see a doctor."

Kira looked back and smiled at Misato's joke.

"I'm fine, let's give them hell."

The two of them watched as the ship rose up and began evading attacks from the Hybrid ships under the Magi guidance. Just as the ship began to move forward, a fleet of Hybrid Insectoids appeared and began firing on the ship causing it to shake violently. From behind Misato sparks flew out of one of the Engineering link up consoles.

"Shit, shields are down to ninety percent."

Snarling, Misato targeted the center of the Hybrid fleet and fired off another volley from the ships phase cannons. She watched as one of the blasts caught one of the machines face on and destroyed it effortlessly. Another blast clipped one of the wings of a different insectoid, sending this one spiraling into another of the machines. The third blast was evaded by the remaining insectoids, immediately Misato targeted them and prepared another few blasts.

Below the ship the battle raged on between the ASPE Ships and more Hybrid Vessels. A swarm of Insectoids led by one of the Spheres were finishing taking apart one of the ships and were now turning their attention to the B Class which Misato and Kira were currently sitting in. The sphere unleashed a green pulse and sent it directly at the ship, causing the shields to drop even further.

"Kira, take us into the planets orbit, maybe we can out run them."

"I'm plotting a course now."

The ship began moving upwards and out of the Geofront with the Hybrids and remaining ASPE Vessels in pursuit. Every so often Misato would fire a series of blasts out from the phase cannons trying to target any of the hundreds of ships engaged in the war. Eventually they made it to the open air and out of the Geofront, only to notice that more ships were awaiting them.

These ships however were not hybrid or ASPE, they were huge, at least three times the size of the B Class and were blocking out the sky. Each of the ships was dark and metallic in appearance and several rows of cannons could be seen along the sides of them all.

Misato averted her gaze from the gargantuan ships just in time to notice several insectoids had made their way to the front of the ship and were now attacking relentlessly. She tried to fire off another volley as the shields dropped to below fifty percent.

Suddenly each of the guns on the new ships spoke, firing a single shot each at the Hybrid Vessels, eliminating them effortlessly. The ship came to a halt directly beneath one of these huge ships as the battle raged on, every so often the guns would speak, killing off anything that approached them, save for the B-Class.

The two of them watched as the sky continued to turn its deathly red, then all of a sudden four holds opened up on the giant ships. Twelve holes in total. Then simultaneously they fired something down at the Geofront. Misato got a look at them just as they passed. Huge beings that looked to Misato like a Bat and an Eva. She watched as all twelve descended onto the Geofront, effortlessly eliminating anything that got in their way.

Several of the Hybrid crafts attempted to follow these new Evangelions back into the Geofront but were stopped by what Misato could only assume to be some sort of A.T. Field. Not wanting to get caught back up in the war, Misato motioned over to Kira and spoke again.

"I think we've seen enough here, take the ship out of orbit and lets look for that object."

Kira nodded and resumed a course out of the planets atmosphere. As she did so they noticed the new ships had began to rise out of the atmosphere as well. As they continued to rise, one of the guns from the ship fired a blast directly at them causing more sparks to shoot out of Misato's console and the shields to now drop to under thirty percent. A voice then spoke over the comm. system.

"_This is Khnialmnae representing the Collective, you are to remain within this planets atmosphere while we retake what is ours. If you fail to comply by our instructions we will destroy you."_

Misato glared at the screen wondering who these new people were and trying to figure out a course of action. She didn't want to try an all out attack knowing that it would only fail seeing the firepower these guys had.

Just as she scanned the area another time, the lights on the bridge began to power off again. This was followed by a blinding light from the viewscreen and the Magi consoles. Misato turned to face the screens and jumped back as she saw who was there.

"Rei, what are you doing?"

Rei did not give any response, instead she stayed there, motionless, over the consoles.

"I must… I must speak with Ikari and Sohryu."

Misato and Kira looked at each other confused, unsure as to what was happening as this girl was there in front of them, bathed in light. A few moments later, Rei looked up at them both and smiled.

"It is done, everything will be alright now and your part is complete."

"What do you mean our…"

Those were the only words Misato could get out before everything around her erupted in a ball of flame, she prepared herself for the inevitable, the last thing to flash through her mind before the bridge was torn apart.

_Good luck Shinji…_

**Shuttlecraft**

John finally emerged from the Sea of Dirac and looked around at the scene in front of him. The entire planet had turned to hell, LCL flowed freely everywhere and the colony itself was still intact and was not under any sort of attack from the Hybrids. He noticed the colony security trying to prevent anyone from leaving and activating the various defense systems around the colony. This was the chance he had to get in and stop the Admiral from reaching Aluka. He deployed his shuttlecrafts weaponry and tried to work out the best way of entering the colony.

He also had to think about what he would do when he was inside. He knew Takahashi had sent the elite troops in the ships to take out his craft but security would still be tight within the complex and the command center. Suddenly an idea formed in his head about what he would do. He activated the shuttles comm. system and tried to contact the ship to ensure they were still alive.

"Frakes to Misato, I've arrived at the colony."

He got no reply from the ship and then repeated the message.

"I've arrived at the colony, are you receiving my message?"

Again he received no reply, he activated the shuttles view screen and switched it to the aft view and noticed the Sea of Dirac had closed up behind him.

_Shit, there goes my escape route._

He activated the front view just in time to notice one of the security droids firing a blast directly at the shuttle.

_The Bastard's have noticed me, time to see what the weapons are like on this thing._

He quickly grabbed hold of the shuttles controls and narrowly dodged the droid's shot. John activated the weapons systems and targeted the droid on his screen, destroying it in one blast.

_Too easy Admiral…_

Several more droids flew out towards the shuttle, however, instead of attacking they simply surrounded the shuttle, blocking it from moving anywhere. The comm. system flashed up indicating that he had an incoming communication, immediately Takahashi appeared on the comm. panel.

_Very clever, guess you did think this one through._

"Captain, welcome back, it would seem we now have a common enemy."

"My only enemy at the moment is you, Admiral."

"You're a fool, just as we speak, my ships and yours are being torn apart by more invaders, thanks to you leading them right here."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Admiral."

"Of course you wouldn't because they tracked you using that girl on your ship. I will spare your life for a small favour."

John laughed at the Admiral, it was completely ludicrous in his mind, first the Admiral had tried to keep him away, then he had tried to destroy him and now he was trying to ally with him again.

"You're a coward Admiral, your request is denied."

"You're the same as me John, just think what I could do if I reach Aluka. I could restore our race and home world. The one you ran away from, you're just as much of a coward as I am."

John was infuriated by the Admiral's comments.

"I had no choice Takahashi and I accept responsibility for what happened, but I will not allow you to play God…."

He was cut off as a huge light erupted in the horizon blinding him, in the space between him and the colony he thought he saw something.

_Rei?_

The security droids around him deactivated and dropped to the ground and he saw his opportunity. He grabbed hold of the navigation controls once again and headed full speed towards the Command Center.

**Battlefield  
**

Asuka closed her eyes and braced for the impact of the lance, awaiting the pain it would bring. She felt tears begin to form in her eyes as her thoughts raced around.

_I'm so sorry Shinji, I let you down._

She brought her legs up to her chest and spoke out loud.

"I'm sorry, Shinji"

She still waited for the pain to shoot through her but nothing happened, slowly she opened one eye and looked out. Immediately her face began to light up and a wicked smile crossed her face. The Lance had not gotten any further than her A.T. Field and had been pulled out of the air by Shinji and Unit 2. She watched as Shinji brought the lance down and sent it straight through one of the beasts, sending LCL spraying everywhere.

Immediately afterwards she heard Shinji's voice over the comm. device.

"_What are you apologizing for?"_

Tears flowed down her face but the smile never left her face, she leaned in towards the comm. device and spoke into it.

"I'm sorry that I'm going to have to kick more ass than you this time around."

She turned around and plunged her progressive knife straight into the head of once of the beasts.

"That's one all Shinji, there's ten left, five each?"

"_Sounds good to me."_

She withdrew the knife and immediately swung it round into one of the incoming Eva's attacks. It stumbled back a bit from the impact and Asuka went in for the attack, plunging her fist directly into and through the monsters torso. Almost immediately afterwards, she felt another one attacking her from behind. It grabbed hold of her arm and began to attempt to twist it off. She screamed out in pain and attempted to grab its head. She felt around the beast's neck and began to try to crush it.

As the pain increased in her arm, she brought her fist back and landed a hit directly into the other Eva's head, it finally released its grip and stumbled backwards. Asuka seized the opportunity for some payback and grabbed hold of the arm and began twisting it, watching the beast howling out in pain. She grabbed her prog. knife again and this time brought it down upon the beasts arm, slicing it clean off. Asuka quickly followed up by bringing the knife down on the beast's torso, silencing the monster.

_That's three out of six, three to go._

She looked over and saw Shinji, still wielding the lance and pulling it out of one of the beast's corpses. Just at that moment, the remaining six beasts spread their wings and flew up into the air, surrounding Shinji and Asuka. Simultaneously they activated their Eva's thrusters and rose up into the air to meet them.

They watched as a section of each of the new Eva's torsos began to open, uncovering a glowing red orb similar to the core of an angel. Asuka tried to move forward to attack again but was bounced back by a strong A.T. Field. Immediately afterwards Shinji tried the same thing but was also bounced back. Suddenly a stream of light shot out from each of the orbs connecting all the Eva's to each other with Unit's 1 and 2 still in the middle of it all.

Below them, the corpses of the fallen Eva's disintegrated and turned to LCL, the two of them looked around at the remaining enemies, still unable to attack due to the A.T. Field. Shinji, getting frustrated with this, raised the lance and threw it at one of the cores, hoping it would penetrate the field. The lance shot straight through the field but did not get the same results as Shinji expected.

He looked on in horror as the Lance was absorbed directly into the core, the beams of light being sent from each of the enemy Eva's vanished as they all began to rise up into the air again.

Asuka muttered over the comm. system.

"Is that it? Did we beat them?"

"_I'm not sure, they've vanished though and I'm not picking up anything here."_

"That was too easy, there must be something mor…."

She was cut off by a blinding light appearing in the center of the geofront, she looked into it and saw the figure of something standing in it. It was like a column of light extending out of the geofront and straight into the sky.

"…Rei?"

**  
ASPE Command Center**

Takahashi leapt up from his seat as he saw the shuttlecraft begin to move towards the colony. Around him, the rest of his group began panicking as well, all the security droids around the colony had been deactivated, leaving them with several squads of ground troops and a small number of cargo shuttles. One of the other men in the room called over towards him.

"Takahashi, your Captain is ruining our plans, you underestimated him you old fool."

Takahashi snarled and shouted back.

"He will not ruin our plans, we still have more shuttles and squads of ground troops, he cannot get anywhere near us."

He watched as various shuttles flew out of the colony and towards the captain's ship. The cargo shuttles were not packed with any major weaponry but they out numbered the captain's shuttle by at least six to one. That was not to mention the squads of four within each shuttle.

The ships rose up and towards the incoming shuttle, each one firing off bursts from their phase cannons as they targeted the captain's shuttle. The shuttle however was able to evade most of the blasts, it quickly swooped around one of the ships and unleashed a volley of its own, cutting through the ships shields. It quickly resumed its course towards the command center with the other ships in pursuit.

"What is he doing?"

"It's irrelevant, he will be destroyed before he reaches here."

Several more blasts struck the shuttle, knocking it off its course and damaging the hull, it quickly sent off more blasts, randomly targeting the pursuing ships and managing to pierce the hull of one of them. Still en-route to the command center, it fired a series of blasts straight at the command center.

Takahashi jumped up off of his seat along with the rest of the people currently viewing the scene. The lights in the room dimmed and the emergency lights came in as the entire complex shook from the attack. The ships fired off more blasts at the shuttle this time piercing the hull, but still not enough to destroy it as the shuttle edged ever nearer. It was at this moment they all knew just what the captain's plan was, they didn't even have time to think about it or move as the entire complex went up in a ball of flame.

**Battlefield**

"_That was too easy, there must be something mor…."_

Shinji panicked as Asuka was cut off from the comm. channel, he looked straight ahead, her Eva was still there and there was nothing in the Geofront. Both the Eva's had S2 Engines now so there was no reason for the power to cut out. Suddenly a blinding light appeared in the center of the Geofront. He shielded his eyes as the light began to form a column straight up out of the Geofront and up into the sky.

He could no longer see Asuka or Unit 2 through the light but he was sure he could see something in the center of the light. It was the figure of a person, he was sure of it, he moved closer towards it trying to get a better view and that was when he noticed what it was.

"Ayanami?"

The figure gave no response, instead she just turned to face him, the figure nodded and pointed straight up. Then almost as suddenly as it had appeared, the column of light vanished leaving both of them in the Geofront, wondering what they had just seen. Without speaking, Shinji engaged his Eva's thrusters and began to move upwards towards where the column of light had extended.

"_Shinji, where are you going?"_

"Ayanami's up there"

"_What? Shinji that was just them trying to mess with our minds again, she can't be up there."_

"No, Asuka I know it, she is up there."

He switched off the comm. system even though he knew Asuka would make him pay for it later. He knew this was what had to be done by both him and Asuka, he kept on climbing and smiled as he saw Asuka had began to follow him towards the source of the light. Thinking he had made his point, he switched the comm. system back on again only to have Asuka shouting over it.

"_Don't you ever do that again idiot! You had better be right about this as well or I'll make you pay."_

"I know I'm right, you saw her too."

"_Yes I saw her, but I've seen a lot of things today and I know half of it isn't real."_

"This is real, she's up there, this is what we have to do Asuka, this is the way to end all of this."

"_You had better be right."_

The two Eva's continued going straight up and out of the Geofront, around them the remnants of the battle were falling to the floor. Scattered Hybrid Insectoid debris littered the ground and broken pieces of hull from the ASPE Ships were also falling to the floor. Shinji tried not to let any of the destruction bother him as he continued moving upwards.

_I'll put all of this right, just give me more time…_

Eventually they both reached the planets atmosphere and burst through, into orbit of the planet. In the distance they could make out an eight sided object, surrounded by several large fortress like ships.

"_Shinji is that..."_

"Yes that's it, that's the same place and that's where Ayanami is."

"_So what are we going to do, rescue her or something?"_

"I don't know yet all I know is that we need to be there."

Just as they edged closer to the object a column of light spread out from the object's center and down towards the colony. Beams shot out from the object, connecting it with the huge fortress ships as gaseous LCL began to seep from the object.

Shinji and Asuka found themselves frozen in place as they both tried to force their Eva's to move towards the object. Two more beams shot out from it and connected with the two Units and began to pull them in towards it. Shinji looked out down at the colony as he saw a huge explosion occurring on the planets surface. Not too long after, he saw something begin to climb up from the planet towards them all. It was unclear at first as it was bathed in the column of light, but as it came out of the planets atmosphere it began to detach itself and that's when Shinji noticed just what it was.

_Adam?_

That was the last thought to run through his mind as he felt himself being pulled even closer towards the eight sided object and then become completely bathed in a white glow.

**Aluka**

The glow subsided and Shinji found himself in a new location and immediately recognized it as the same eight sided room he had seen in his dreams. Immediately he wondered what had happened to Asuka and began looking round to see if she too had been pulled into this area. He was startled as he heard a voice behind him.

"If you're wondering where she is then she is safe, she is just in a different place at this time."

Shinji didn't turn around, instead he looked down at the floor.

"Can... Can I see her?"

"No, that is impossible, you are beyond her at the moment."

He spun around and noticed who it was who was speaking to him, it was the boy from earlier, the one who he had been introduced to, and the one who Asuka had seen during that sync test.

"Bey... Beyond her? What do you mean?"

"You both entered the gateway, however only one could be elevated to this plateau, the person we chose was you. You will get to see her eventually but we have more important matters at hand."

"Who are you?"

"You already know me, Shinji Ikari."

"Kaworu"

The boy laughed and spoke again.

"No, my human name is Ichiro as you already know, I am a product of the being known as Adam. Much like Kaworu, except I have a different purpose, my purpose was to be able to open a stable gateway to this place to allow my masters to pass through it. However I could not allow them to pass through it as it would upset the balance of the universe, which is why I asked Ayanami to call you."

"C-Call me?"

"Yes, you have experienced this before and were the only person who could be trusted to enter the gateway."

"How do you know so much about me?"

"I know everything about you now Shinji, I know about your father, your mother and I know what happened to you in Tokyo-3. I know you've had feelings for Asuka since you met her and that you still blame yourself for what happened to her. I know this because when you passed through the gateway, all of this was made available to me."

"You mean you… you looked into my mind?"

"Not by choice, when you entered here it was made available to me so that I can do my job as a guide to you. Now please come with me, I have something to show you."

Asuka felt the glow subside and she found herself in the same eight sided room she had seen in her dreams some time ago. She looked around and found it was completely empty except for her. She slumped against the wall and spoke aloud.

"Shinji…"

She felt alone and scared as she sat there wondering what had happened. The last thing she remembered was following Shinji up to try to find Ayanami, then she had seen something rising from the Colony before being bathed in light and appearing in this place. She pulled her knees up to her chest and looked down at the floor, wondering if this was finally it for her.

"Why are you scared?"

"Huh?"

She looked up and jumped straight up as she saw Rei standing directly in front of her. It was the first time she had ever been glad to see Rei.

"He is safe, you have just been brought to a different area, that is all."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ikari is in another place similar to this one, he has to serve his purpose, then he will return to you."

"I see and what do I do until then?"

"I do not understand."

"Well if you think I'm just going to sit in this room with you for god knows how long you're wrong. What is he doing anyway?"

"He has entered the main area of Aluka, he has become god."

Asuka rolled her eyes, not quite understanding what Rei was talking about.

"Become… god?"

"Yes, he has the power to reshape the Universe in his own image."

"Shinji can do that?"

"Yes."

"But how?"

"Because he has entered Aluka, that is the nature of this place."

Asuka was confused, she knew what had happened through instrumentality and how Shinji had merged with all living souls and allowed them all to come back but now it seemed to be happening again only this time on a grander scale. A strange feeling began to form within the pit of her stomach as she resumed looking at the ground. Rei looked at her in a quizzical manner.

"What are you frightened of?"

Asuka put up her emotional shields and replied quickly.

"Nothing"

Rei turned her head and looked at her even more, Asuka began to feel as if Rei was looking straight into her soul.

"Okay you win wondergirl, if you must know I…"

She started to break up a little but continued speaking.

"I was just thinking…what if Shinji's ideal world or image doesn't include me what if I was just there to make him feel better?"

"Is that truly what you believe?"

"Yea... No… I don't know, it's just I love him and I just wish we didn't have to be put through this all the time."

"Shinji will make the right decision, for both you and him."

**The Birth**

Shinji followed the boy through the doorway and found himself in another room that seemed to go on forever. Towards the center he could make out what appeared to be a series of stars.

"What is this?"

"The beginning."

"Of what?"

"The Universe, this is the Universe in its infant stages, still expanding. Soon it will expand to millions of galaxies, planets and races. Aluka is the space outside all of this."

"So we're outside the universe, but isn't the Universe everything?"

Ichrio smiled and nodded.

"Yes, but when you become God you have the power to reshape the Universe, therefore you must exist outside of the Universe to do this. Do you understand?"

"I... I think so. So what do I need to do?"

"That is for you to decide Shinji, I am only here to show you this and guide you, what happens now is your own decision."

"I see."

Shinji was finally beginning to understand what was happening, he moved along looking at the forming universe in front of him, watching it expanding. New stars appeared and old ones exploded and vanished, yet it kept on expanding off into the far distance. He had all the power to reshape it in any way he wanted to, it was an impossible concept for him to grasp yet it was right in front of him, much like with instrumentality, he would be shaping people's lives.

"Why me though?"

"Your race was spawned from a being known as Lillith, just like the ASPE homeworld and the Hybrid Homeworld. The being known as Lillith was created by a race known as the Collective, it has been their aim for millennia to enter this place to achieve ultimate power to mass evolve their entire race into God like beings, Aluka could not allow this to happen and created a security system to stop them. You saw this system in action when you fought against the Hybrids, they were trying to stop you from reaching this place by eliminating all of the Lillim."

Shinji nodded and looked on ahead, as the scene changed back to the eight sided room again.

"The Admiral wanted the same thing, he wanted ultimate power, that is why I betrayed them and allowed you access."

"But how do you know I wouldn't do that?"

"I have seen into your soul and I know that that is not who you are."

Shinji felt a weird sensation inside of him, it was a mix of anger and amazement. Amazement that this guy could know so much but also anger at the fact that he knew so much about him, he felt as if his mind had been intruded upon.

"How do I know what'll be the right choice though?"

"You know it deep inside your heart, you just have to realize it."

Shinji began to think about what he could do.

_This is insane, I can't be the person to decide all this, it's not right._

Images of his past flashed before him as he tried to think about what to do, he thought of his mother and his father. He thought about Asuka, the girl he loved and her past.

_Maybe I could make it so none of this happened, so we have a perfect life. No, that would just be running away, I won't allow myself to do that._

"Ok, I know what I want to do then."

"Then tell me…"

Shinji began to speak as the room erupted into a white glowing light, once again enveloping everything.

**Grand Finale**

When Shinji awoke he found himself uncomfortably placed near Unit 1, he sat up and looked around at the planet, unsure of just where he was. Behind him he could see Unit 1 and next to it Unit 2. A little off in the distance the Ship was on the ground, damaged from the attacks it had suffered. Beside him lay a sleeping Asuka, he gently reached out and stroked her hair, smiling as he did so. She woke up and looked into his eyes.

He wondered if everything was finally over, if now he and Asuka would be able to live happily, or if something else would come along soon and knock it off balance. At least he'd be with her if it did. She spoke softly.

"What... what happened?"

"It's over."

"What do you mean it's over?"

"I was right, we did have to go towards it but it wasn't for the reason I thought."

Asuka looked at him as he spoke, she of course already knew all of this but was more eager to know what Shinji had done with his power in Aluka.

"So, did you see Rei?"

"No, but I already know you did."

"So, what happens now?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? You mean you had all that power and you don't even know what to do now?"

"Exactly."

"So what did you do with it all?"

"Nothing, I brought us back."

"Do you mean to tell me you had all that power, you could have done anything you wanted? You could have taken both of us back to Tokyo 3 and into a world without Eva, without pain. Or you could have reshaped anything how you wanted, yet you done nothing?"

"I didn't do nothing, I made sure the gateway can never be opened again, but I already had the only thing I wanted."

She sat up next to him and looked around her, it was definitely the Geofront but not the same one Tokyo 3 was located in. There were no hybrid vessels and no Eva corpses. Just the sun blasting down and a beautiful sunset.

She put her arm around him and leaned in to kiss him.

"And what was that?"

He took a moment to think about it before replying.

"You."

…**End**

**A/N:**

**Ending probably played out a bit better in my mind but I still think it worked out fine. There might be an epilogue to this and it will be from Shinji's point of view so that should explain a bit more. Anyway that's the main story over with and I hope you all liked it. I'm not too keen on the ending but I've never been good with endings anyway, I like the rest of it though. Please review and feel free to flame the ending if you wish as like I said I feel it is a bit lacking but I still think it's nice.**

**Thanks to all people for reading this it's been great fun to write and I hope it wasn't too bad for my first fic. My Second fic should be released soon or at least the first chapter is. It's called Conspiracy and it's not as outlandish as this one so please look out for that one.**

**Thanks**

**JCM**

**Pre Readers Notes:**

**What a great honor it was to be the pre-reader to such an epic fic. It constantly amazed me, as did JCM. I believe he is a very talented writer and has achieved great success with this fic, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. It's a shame it's all ended but I have had such an enjoyable, moving experience editing this and I feel like JCM has really done himself justice with it. I also feel it has kept me on track with my English Literature skills during my Gap Year. I've loved all of it and always found myself with my eyes glued to the screen, dying to find out what happens next and then I must say it is all concluded very excellently. I can't wait for the epilogue, it will be good to see what has happened to everyone else. The relationship between Shinji and Asuka was developed really well, it wasn't rushed or turned into smut and so I found it to be realistic, love-filled and excellently portrayed. I believe JCM managed to put his thoughts into his fic very effectively and so we were all kept on the edge of our seats through cliffhangers and such. Rei is my favorite character and I think that he did her justice and I felt she was portrayed perfectly. **

**Anyway, Thanks to JCM for letting me pre-read and enjoy his fic and thanks to the people who read it for making me and JCM smile and giving constructive feedback whilst meeting JCM's review expectations. **

**Looking forward to Conspiracy,**

**Stephen Percival**


	25. Epilogue

**A/N: This is from Shinji's point of view.**

_It's strange how my life after third impact seemed to go in a full circle. I emerged from it depressed and not quite sure of myself. There was a part of me that wanted to move on and try to make a better attempt at my life and then there was still that part of me that wished I had accepted instrumentality or even just died. Of course then I began to realize maybe life wasn't so bad after all, we were taken on board that ship by those kind strangers and we set out together, two different groups of survivors._

_Maybe it was fate, I don't know, but we were all linked in a way, each of us human but from differing worlds. I still didn't understand though and continued to hate myself, that was until me and Asuka got together. I had always liked her and after third impact I knew how similar we were. We gave each other the strength we needed to get through each day, without knowing it we helped each other._

_Then it started happening again, our lives started falling apart around us, the nightmares started up and Asuka's mind was attacked in the entry plug. Maybe it was just me being given a second chance, last time I chose to run away and to ignore it, hoping it'd kill me or just go away. I was a coward then but I swore I wasn't going to be this time, I helped Asuka through it and we fought side by side, just as we should have done before. Then I was given the power of god again. This time not just over the world but over the Universe, I never asked for this power and I didn't want it, just like before. This time I was going to make everything right, it was the time to stop running away and move forward with my life._

_I decided to give up my power and put everything back to normal, I made sure no one could open Aluka ever again. When I returned, it was just me and Asuka with the Eva's, the ship was a couple of hundred metres away. We were back on the colony planet, no sign of the war and no sign that anything had happened. Just as I wanted it. Me and Asuka talked for a bit I told her what had happened and she laughed at me, only this time she didn't call me an idiot, she told me she loved me. Amazing how three simple words can mean so much._

_I wasn't quite sure who had returned, so me and Asuka began exploring the ship and found Misato and Kira still alive on the Bridge. We were also pleasantly surprised that Rei was still alive. Unfortunately the Captain never returned, when we reentered the colony we found most of the ASPE command center had been destroyed by the Captain's Shuttle. Although none of us knew him as well as we knew each other, we gave him a good send off._

_Misato took over as captain of the ship, with Kira as a second in command, it feels a bit strange being the only male on the ship although Misato is thinking of recruiting more crew members from the people on the colony. Speaking of the people on the colony, none of them really remember what happened, it seems only me and Asuka retained full memory of the events. Misato and Kira remember it to a point and Rei's mind was completely wiped from the beginning of the day onwards. It's probably for the best, if people knew it'd just cause more problems._

_In the two weeks that have passed since the Aluka Incident, me and Asuka have been out on more dates. There was a bit of a scary moment when she was ill one morning but it was just a bad virus she picked up. We haven't made love since the day of the incident and we both agreed not too for a long time, agreeing that we weren't really ready for it. We haven't told Misato that that was the reason for us being late on the morning of the Aluka Incident for fear of what she'll do to us if we did, but we will have to eventually, she is our guardian after all._

_I don't know what will happen from here on, maybe we'll encounter strange alien planets or ships. All I know is that this part of my life is finally over and I can actually look forward to the future now._

**A/N: **Well that's it the complete end. I might do spin offs in the future but it depends on what you guys want really. I have a few ideas for future one shots based on it set after this but I want to work on Conspiracy first which should be out in about one-two weeks. Please review and tell me what you think.


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